Behaviour of Open Trenches for the Mitigation of Ground-Borne Vibrations

Abstract

With the advancement of modern technology, increased rail and road transit systems have been built to relieve traffic congestion in densely populated cities. Railway lines may inevitably pass through residential or vibration-sensitive areas where high-precision labs or factories are located. Ground vibrations associated with these railway and roadway systems have become a significant concern due to rapid urbanization and related activities. Traffic, vibrating equipment, pile driving, machine foundation, and blasting induce ground vibrations might affect the integrity of nearby structures. Therefore, vibration isolation is necessary to mitigate ground-borne vibrations with suitable techniques in the present-day context. Researchers have performed multiple studies to develop efficient mitigation techniques to counter the problem of ground-borne vibrations, such as open trenches, infilled trenches, and pile barriers. Open trench barriers are one of the prominent isolation techniques for ground vibration. In this study, the performance of open trenches is investigated for the isolation of ground-borne vibrations by performing numerical analyses by utilizing the finite element method. A parametric study was carried out to evaluate the influence of trench geometry and the number of trenches in attenuating the ground-borne vibrations. The results indicate that the depth and width of an open trench are two crucial parameters determining its performance in wave attenuation. The ground-borne vibration isolation system of the trench shows improvement in damping ground-borne vibrations. Additionally, the dual trench systems were observed to reduce the wave propagation across all distances from the vibration source. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.