Field measurements and numerical analysis of ground vibrations generated by cutting

A field measurement of ground vibration is performed on the Paris-Brussels high-speed railway, and the ground vibrations generated by cutting are analyzed. Based on the 2.5D finite element method (FEM), 2.5D FE models for the cutting are established to investigate the effects of the design parameters for cutting on ground vibration responses. The results show that, in the near track zone, the amplitudes of ground vibrations are dominated by the axle weight of train, but are mainly influenced by the superimposed effects far away from the track which is induced by the adjacent wheelsets and bogies of middle cars. With the increasing distance from track, the ground vibrations decrease gradually, and the decay rate for the medium- and high-frequency vibrations is higher than that for others. The primary frequency of ground vibrations is dominated by the basic frequency of train loading f₁. The process of ground vibration attenuation can be divided into three stages for the cutting track section. There are rebound phenomena of ground vibrations at the top of cutting slope. The ground vibration decreases with the increasing cutting depth. When the depth is beyond a critical value, such benefit of cutting on vibration reduction can hardly be increased further. In the precondition of the stability of cutting slopes, a larger inclined angle is beneficial to reducing vibrations.