Study of wave barriers design for the mitigation of railway ground vibrations

Nowadays, the consolidation of the rail in highly populated areas has become a reality. Foundations, buildings, high accuracy devices and people are susceptible to suffer from vibrations induced by passing trains. Therefore, models for predicting ground vibrations are required in order to determine new mitigation measures. Rectangular open or in-filled trenches are a suitable solution to be used near constructed railway lines. Their installation is fast, easy and economic since no intrusion in the track is needed. In this work, the influence of the trench design on its effectiveness is analyzed considering a train moving with subsonic speed. A finite element model of the track has been developed and validated with real data registered along the tram network in Alicante (Spain). The analysis is carried out in the time domain considering the quasi-static movement of the vehicles. The results demonstrate that, in ascending order, the most relevant parameters in a trench are its width, depth and in-filled material or trench typology. However, it is also concluded that other conditions such as the stratification of soil are essential in order to determine an optimal design of a wave barrier.