Mitigation of Vibration in Railway Platform Produced By High

Speed Train
Rana Chandra Howlader1, Prof. A. K. Datta2

In India railway is the main mode of transportation. In last few decades it has improved a
lot. With time the demand of modern high speed train has increased and to meet the
demand a number of high speed trains have been introduced in the old conventional
railway track system. When a non-stop high speed train passes through the station it
produces huge amount of vibration which is generated from the locomotive of the train
and it is transferred from the locomotive wheel to rail, from rail to sleeper, from sleeper
to ballast and ultimately from ballast to the underground soil. Then it propagates through
the soil and produces undesirable vibration to the nearby platform structures, which may
produce cracks to the platform building or loosen the bolted connection of the steel sheds
and columns. This vibration is also a disturbance to the passenger and cause of irritation
for the weak people who are present on the platform. In this respect Vibration mitigation
is essential to improve the level of comfort to the passengers waiting on the platform and
safe performance of relevant structural components. This is essential particularly for
developing nation like India.

A number of effective methods are available to mitigate the vibration, like resilient track
fastener, under sleeper pad, ballast mat, floating slab etc. Zhigang cao et al.[2] in their
paper have addresed the use of under sleeper pads (USP) for reduction of vibration. The
study reveals that use of USP can reduce the level of vibration significantly. In another
study Santiago Brunet [1] investigated the use of rubber sand mixture (RSM) for
minimizing the level of vibration. Survey of literature reveals that there is ample scope
for vibration mitigation by the application of suitable absorbing material.
Mitigation of vibration is greatly affected by damping in the laid material. The suitable
absorbing material can be laid under the railway track. The laying of absorbing material
can also be done in between track and railway platform. As a result laid material can play
the role of barrier against the propagation of wave producing vibration. The reduction of
vibrational intensity depends on the material properties of the laid material. In this study
rubber sand mixture (RSM) is used as laid material to mitigate vibration. The
performance of RSM is investigated with the help of a finite element method (FEM).
Using FEM model of track- absorbing material- platform, the affecting parameters like
stresses, strain energy and dissipated energy have been studied. It is found that the energy
dissipation increases with the increase of rubber content in the RSM mixture. In the study
the variation of rubber percentage has been considered as 25 percent and 35 percent
respectively. The variation of the dissipated energy for normal soil and RSM material is
shown in chart-1.

2500000

2000000

1500000
Dissipated Energy

1000000 Series1
Series2
500000

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

-500000
Time Of Propagation

Chart-1, Comparison of Variation of dissipated energy for normal soil with RSM soil sample

Series1= Normal soil Sample

Series2= RSM soil sample
Here the pick magnitude for dissipated energy of normal soil sample is about 1.8 KJ
where as the pick magnitude of RSM soil is about 2.2 KJ, so the ability to absorb the
energy in RSM soil is 18% more than normal soil sample. Therefore this material is
found to be suitable for vibration mitigation. This study also reveals that strain energy
and stress concentration is also minimized using RSM soil. The RSM material can be
obtained from waste material; hence the concept is eco friendly and cheap. The concept
can easily be implemented in our country.

Keywords- Vibration mitigation, ground borne vibration, layered soil media, rubber
sand mixture (RSM).

Reference

1. Santiago Brunet, Juan Carlos De La Llera, Eduardo Kausel, “Non Linear modeling
of seismic isolation systems made of recycled tire rubber”, Soil Dynamics and
Earthquake Engineering, (2016), 134 - 145

2. Zhigang cao, Yuanqiang cai, Jie Han, “Mitigation of ground vibration by high
speed trains on saturated pro elastic ground with under sleeper pad”, Journal Of
Transportation Engineering, ASCE (2014), 12 – 22

3. Carlos Hidalgo Signes, Pablo Martínez Fernández, Elías Medel Perallón, Ricardo
Insa Franco “Analysis of the Vibration Alleviation of A New Railway Sub-Ballast
Layer with Waste Tyre Rubber”, Materials and Structures (2016)