Vibration isolation using open or filled trenches

Abstract

The problem of structural isolation from ground transmitted vibrations by open or infilled trenches under conditions of plane strain is numerically studied. The soil medium is assumed to be linear elastic or viscoelastic, homogeneous and isotropic. Horizontally propagating Rayleigh waves or waves generated by the motion of a rigid foundation or by surface blasting are considered in this work. The formulation and solution of the problem is accomplished by the boundary element method in the frequency domain for harmonic disturbances or in conjunction with Laplace transform for transient disturbances. The proposed method, which requires a discretisation of only the trench perimeter, the soil-foundation interface and some portion of the free soil surface on either side of the trench appears to be better than either finite element or finite difference techniques. Some parametric studies are also conducted to assess the importance of the various geometrical, material and dynamic input parameters and provide useful guidelines to the design engineer.