Investigation of Vibration Mitigation by Concrete Trough with Integrated Under Ballast Mats for Surface-Railways

Abstract

In recent years environmental impact studies including an extensive vibration analysis of the effect of the vibration emissions from the railways on adjacent residents have become more and more important during the planning process of construction of new railway lines as well as for the modification or extension of existing ones. Within such a study, not only the immission have to be predicted, but also appropriate mitigation measures must be proposed in a very early planning phase. For surface-railways, however, there are hardly any measures available to mitigate vibrations. Next to under sleeper pads a solid concrete trough with integrated ballast mats is one of the alternatives. The use of this measure must be provided for more and more vibration-sensitive sections to achieve a certain quality of vibration mitigation. However, the influences of different parameters on the effectiveness of vibration mitigation are not fully understood and therefore an adequate prediction is not yet possible of whether the effectiveness will be as desired. The investigations described are essentially based on measurements on a total of six existing concrete troughs. The procedure and the results of the investigation carried out on six various sites already installed [1] are described. First conclusions are drawn and an outlook with specific recommendations for improved mitigation efficiency is given.