Numerical modelling of ground vibration caused by elevated high-speed railway lines considering structure-soil-structure interaction

Construction of high speed railway lines has been an increasing trend in recent years. Countries like Denmark and Sweden plan to expand and upgrade their railways to accommodate high-speed traffic. To benefit from the full potential of the reduced commuting times, these lines must pass through densely populated urban areas with the collateral effect of increased noise and vibrations levels. This paper aims to quantify the vibrations levels in the area surrounding an elevated railway line built as a multi-span bridge structure. The proposed model employs finite-element analysis to model the bridge structure, including a multi-degree-of-freedom vehicle model and accounting for the track unevenness via a nonlinear contact model. The foundations are implemented as rigid footings resting on the ground surface, while the soil is modelled utilizing Green’s function for a horizontally layered half-space. The paper analyses the effects of structure-soil-structure interaction on the dynamic behaviour of the surrounding soil surface. The effects of different soil stratification and material properties as well as different train speeds are assessed. Finally, the drawbacks of simplifying the numerical model, in order to reduce the complexity of the calculations, are determined.