Vibration in piled foundations due to trains in underground railway tunnels

The dynamic behaviour of piles in response to incident vibration fields from underground railways is a major concern in the construction of tunnels and buildings. The Pipe-in-Pipe model (PiP) is wellestablished as a tool for predicting vibration from underground railways. It is currently being enhanced to include details of piled foundations. The present paper gives a detailed description of the methods used in incorporating pile models into the PiP software. Validation of these models against a single-pile Boundary Element Model shows good agreement in predicted response to longitudinal forces as well as considerable savings in computational time. Using power flow methods, maps of the energy lost through the pile boundary are constructed. It is shown that the majority of energy from longitudinal vibration usually flows through the tip, however, in particular pile locations relative to a tunnel the majority of energy flows through the pile skin. The tip orientation and the absolute distance of the pile from the tunnel are important parameters in pile and tunnel construction. © 2008 by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Department of Mechanical Engineering All rights reserved.

ISBN:978-90-73802-86-5

Publication year:2008