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Centrifuge modelling of ground-borne vibrations induced by railway traffic in underground tunnels

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Abstract

Increased attention has been given to ground-borne vibrations induced by railway vehicles and to the effects of these vibrations as they propagate through the ground into nearby buildings. Various studies, mainly based on numerical methods as well as physical modelling, have been carried out to investigate this problem. To study the dynamic response of tunnels and the surrounding soil due to train-induced vibration loads, a centrifuge test was conducted with a small-scale model in 1 g and 50 g stress field environments. An aluminum tube was embedded in sand to model the underground tunnel. A small parallel pre-stressed actuator (PPA) was employed to apply vibration loads on the tunnel invert. The model responses were measured using accelerometers. Both time and frequency domain analyzes were performed. The test results demonstrated that electronic noise had a clear impact on the test results and should be eliminated. It also found that the dynamic response of both the tunnel and soil were affected by the stress field. Therefore, it is important to account for the stress field effects when assessing the ground-borne vibration from tunnels.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51678499).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51678499

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Transportation Tunnel Engineering, the Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, No. 111 The Second Circled Road North, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610031, China

    Yang Wenbo, Qian Zhihao, Tu Jiulin, Zhou Ziyang, Yan Qixiang, Fang Yong & He Chuan

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  1. Yang Wenbo
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  2. Qian Zhihao
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  3. Tu Jiulin
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  4. Zhou Ziyang
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  5. Yan Qixiang
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  6. Fang Yong
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  7. He Chuan
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Correspondence to Yan Qixiang.

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Wenbo, Y., Zhihao, Q., Jiulin, T. et al. Centrifuge modelling of ground-borne vibrations induced by railway traffic in underground tunnels. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 21, 517–528 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-022-2101-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-022-2101-8

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