Experimental study of ground vibrations induced by Brussels IC/IR trains in their neighbourhood

Universitéde Mons – UMONS, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Theoretical Mechanics, Dynamics and Vibrations, Place du Parc 20, 7000 Mons, Belgium

^a Corresponding author: georges.kouroussis@umons.ac.be

Received: 30 November 2012
Accepted: 11 April 2013

Abstract

In this paper, railway-induced ground vibrations are analysed experimentally with the aim of addressing questions raising from the planning of a new RER network, available in the near future in order to alleviate pollution and the traffic jams. Free field ground vibrations are measured during the passing of InterCity and InterRegion trains. Various sites along the main line L161 Brussels-Luxembourg are chosen and investigated, with specific differences about the track and soil configurations. In order to compare these results with numerical ones, a deep dynamic characterisation of the track, the soil and the train is first performed. The analysis of horizontal and vertical ground vibrations measured during the passage of domestic trains (AM96, AM86, AM80, AM75, HLE27/M4 or M5) at various speeds (from 40 to 120 km.h^-1) is then presented. The results show that the ground vibration amplitude depends on various factors: soil configuration, train type and speed, direction of measurement, track quality. In a particular case, a local defect (rail joint) induces large deformations of the soil.