TY - CONF A1 - Auersch, Lutz ED - Papadrakakis, Manolis T1 - Frequency-wavenumber method for the wave propagation through the soil and the soil-structure interaction of railway tracks and building foundations near railway lines N2 - In soil-structure interaction, the soil and the (flexible) structures are modelled as elastic continua. The partial differential equations of elasticity can be transformed to algebraic equations in frequency-wavenumber domain where they can be solved by matrix methods. The results for the soil and a structure can be coupled in frequency-wavenumber domain, and the solution in space domain is obtained by an infinite wavenumber integral (the back-transformation). This method has several applications for the prediction of the emission, transmission and immission of railway-induced vibrations. The wave propagation in homogeneous or layered soils is calculated for surface and tunnel lines by a single wavenumber integration (transmission). The response of ballast or slab tracks (for the emission problem) and the foundation stiffness (for the immission problem) need an additional integration across the track or foundation width. In wavenumber domain, tracks and foundations of infinite length are analysed. Finite structures can be calculated by finite element models where the soil is calculated by the boundary element method. The Green’s functions for the boundary element method are calculated by a wavenumber integration as for the transmission problem. Some example results for all these tasks will be shown. The immission into buildings will be analysed in detail, and the effect of stiff slab foundations and (basement) walls on the incoming wavefield is quantified in a parameter study. The transfer function (the amplitude ratio) structure to free field usually starts with 1 at 0 Hz and decreases continuously with frequency. The reduction is due to the structural stiffness against wave deformation which turns to be higher than the stiffness of the soil, for example above the structure-soil coincidence frequency of the slab foundation. The reduction is better for a high structural stiffness and for a low soil stiffness. Walls are stiffer than plates for the relevant frequency range, but even walls and especially low basement walls are not infinitely rigid and can follow the wave deformation to a certain extent. These basic rules from frequency-wavenumber analysis can well be used for real building projects near railway lines where stiff foundations can be an alternative reduction method to the commonly used base isolation by elastic elements. T2 - COMPDYN 2025 CY - Rhodos, Greece DA - 15.06.2025 KW - Frequency-wavenumber method KW - Wave propagation KW - Soil-structure interaction KW - Building foundations KW - Mitigation measures PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - NTUA CY - Athen AN - OPUS4-63470 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Auersch, Lutz ED - Papadrakakis, M. ED - Papadopoulos, V. ED - Plevris, V. T1 - How to quantify the vibration reduction of railway tracks N2 - Railway tracks, which reduce the ground vibration, are necessary if the trains are passing near to building. Today the reduction effect of railway tracks is often determined by the complex (time domain) simulation of the passage of a complete train. This method of evaluating the reduction is very time consuming and the results include some arbitrary scatter. It is worth to look for simpler methods which yield clearer results in shorter time. This contribution presents the combined finite-element boundary-element method as a detailed method for the track-soil interaction and, on the other hand, some possible simplifications. One important idea for the reduction assessment is to split the reduction in a vehicle-track interaction part and a track transfer part. The track transfer is not influenced by the vehicle and by single axle loads and it can be calculated as a homogeneous problem along the track. The reduction of some tracks (for example of floating slab tracks) can be dominated by this track transfer function whereas other tracks (for example tracks with soft rail pads) are completely determined by the vehicle-track-interaction part. The different force transfer functions and the ground vibration ratios of tracks with elastic rail pads or elastic sleeper pads are shown as a result of the FEBEM model under a fixed harmonic axle load. The force transfer proves to be a useful quantity for to assess the vibration reduction of railway tracks. T2 - COMPDYN 2013 - 4th ECCOMAS Thematic conference on computational methods in structural dynamics and earthquake engineering CY - Kos Island, Greece DA - 2013-06-12 KW - Railway induced ground vibration KW - Mitigation measures KW - Railway tracks KW - Finite-element boundary-element method KW - Wavenumber integrals KW - 1-D insertion loss PY - 2013 SP - 1 EP - 19 AN - OPUS4-29313 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -