Development and Experimental Validation of a Prediction Model to Assess Railway Traffic Induced Vibrations

Among environmental factors affecting railway infrastructure management that have to be taken into account at design level, vibrations play an important role. Because of dynamic interaction between vehicle and railway superstructure due to irregularities of surfaces coming to contact (wheel and rail) and to vehicle motion anomalies, a set of vibration type are generated propagating from superstructure through subgrade and surrounding soil up to ultimate receptors. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures prescribe quantitative and qualitative evaluation of vibration annoyance in these receptors, but, to date, few models available in literature allow an effective assessment of frequency content and very few of these have been experimentally validated. In the present paper a vibration level prediction model for a railway superstructure on an embankment has been developed. This model, that has been also validated through field test, can be effectively used to study construction solutions, within railway superstructure, aimed at mitigating vibration annoyance.