Seismic vibration measurements near high speed railway lines to validate University of Edinburgh developed software

Abstract
This paper outlines experimental investigations undertaken on the Belgian high speed rail network to facilitate the validation of a finite element model and to investigate the vibration propagation characteristics of three different earthworks profiles. The sites tested were an embankment, an at‐grade section and a cutting and the soil material properties at each site were determined using MASW techniques. Once recorded, the results were compared against those from the numerical model and a high correlation was found. Regarding the effect of earthworks profiles on vibration levels, vibrations were measured up to 100m from the track and it was found that cuttings produced elevated vibration levels in comparison to the at‐grade and embankment cases. Furthermore it was shown that the presence of embankments generated higher frequency content.
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Selected external publications resulting from this GEF loan
- Connolly, D.P., Kouroussis, G., Giannopoulos, A., Verlinden, O., Woodward, P.K. and Forde, M.C., 2014, Assessment of railway vibrations using an efficient scoping model, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 58, pp37-47, doi: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2013.12.003
- Connolly, D.P., Kouroussis, G., Woodward, P.K., Costa, P.A., Verlinden, O. and Forde, M.C., 2014, Field testing and analysis of high speed rail vibrations, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 67, pp102-118, doi: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2014.08.013
- Kouroussis, G., Connolly, D.P., Verlinden, O. and Forde, M.C., 2014, Train speed calculation using ground vibrations, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, pp1-18, doi: 10.1177/0954409713515649
- Connolly, D., Giannopoulos, A., Fan, W., Woodward, P.K. and Forde, M.C., 2013, Optimising low acoustic impedance back-fill material wave barrier dimensions to shield structures from ground borne high speed rail vibrations, Construction and Building Materials, 44, pp557-564, doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.03.034
- Connolly, D., Giannopoulos, A. and Forde, M.C., 2013, Numerical modelling of ground borne vibrations from high speed rail lines on embankments, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 46, pp13-19, doi: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2012.12.003
- Connolly, D., 2013, Ground borne vibrations from high speed trains, University of Edinburgh, PhD Thesis
