Energy-Attenuation Relationships from Vibrations Revisited: Fid-Bau Portal

Energy-Attenuation Relationships from Vibrations Revisited

Jedele, Larry P.

This paper supplements the energy-attenuation information presented by Woods and Jedele, co-authored by Prof. Richard D. Woods. Since that time, the author has compiled additional ground motion attenuation information from construction sites and at sites where energy-attenuation characteristics were crucial in design of foundations supporting equipment that generate vibrations. Vibrations generated by various construction activities and installations of certain vibration-generating equipment can be detrimental to adjacent facilities or other vibration-sensitive equipment housed within the same building or neighboring buildings. Data have been accumulated from construction sites and sites where the installation of vibration-generating equipment was planned. A relationship has been refined between impact (source) energy and level of vibration for specific distances from the source in various soil profiles. Cases studied involve a variety of construction equipment that generate vibrations along with performing simulated (prototype) pile driving and routine ground motion attenuation field tests for design purposes. The data presented generally confirm trends presented by others and reinforces the "scaled-distance" approach for construction and equipment-generated vibrations.