Suppression of Ground Borne Vibration Induced by High-Speed Lines

Abstract

Vibration of high-speed lines leads to annoyance of public and lowering real estate values near the railway lines. This hinders the development of railway infrastructures in urbanised areas. This paper investigates the vibration response of an isolated rail embankment system and modifies the component to better attenuate ground vibration. Mainly velocity response is used to compare the responses and the applied force is of 20 kN at excitation frequencies of 5.6 Hz and 8.3 Hz. Focus was made on ground-borne vibration and between the frequency range of 0 and 250 Hz. 3D Numerical model was made using SolidWork software and frequency response was produced using Harmonic Analysis module from ANSYS Workbench software. For analytical modelling MATLAB was used along with Simulink to verify the mathematical model. This paper also compares the vibration velocity decibels (VdB) of analytical two-degree of freedom model mathematical model with literature data. Harmonic excitation is used on the track to simulate the moving load of train. The results showed that modified analytical model gives the velocity response of 75 VdB at the maximum peak. Changes brought to the mass and spacing of the sleeper and to the thickness and the corresponding stiffness for the ballast does not result in significant vibration response. Limitations of two-degree analytical model is suspected to be the cause of this inactivity. But resonance vibration can be reduced with the aid of damping coefficient of rail pad. Statistical analysis methods t-test and ANOVA single factor test was used verify the values with 95% confidence.