The influence of the soil stratification on free field traffic-induced vibrations

Summary  This paper deals with the influence of the soil stratification on the free field vibrations generated by the passage of a vehicle on an uneven road. A two-stage solution procedure is applied for the numerical prediction of the free field traffic-induced vibrations. First, a 2D vehicle model is used for the calculation of the axle loads from the longitudinal road profile. Next, the free field response is calculated with the dynamic Betti-Rayleigh reciprocity theorem, using a transfer function between the road and the receiver. The dynamic road-soil interaction problem is solved with a substructure method. The road is modelled as a beam of infinite length, while the boundary element method, based on the Green's functions for a horizontally layered linear elastic halfspace is used for the soil. The influence of the soil stratification is demonstrated by a numerical example where the free field vibrations during the passage of a vehicle on a traffic plateau are calculated. Three different cases are considered for the layering of the soil: a homogeneous halfspace, a layer built in at its base and a layer on a halfspace. Special emphasis goes to the dynamic interaction between the road and the soil. It is demonstrated that the stratification of the soil has a considerable influence on both the peak particle velocity and the frequency content of the free field vibrations. Received 28 November 2000; accepted 24 April 2001