Experimental study of a stiff wave barrier in gelatine: Fid-Bau Portal

Experimental study of a stiff wave barrier in gelatine

Coulier, Pieter / Hunt, Hugh E.M.

Abstract Railway induced vibrations and re-radiated noise in buildings can be mitigated by means of wave barriers in the soil. Numerical simulations demonstrate that a stiff wave barrier, consisting of a material that is stiffer than the surrounding medium, can be very effective if the stiffness contrast between the barrier and the medium is sufficiently large. This paper presents results of a lab experiment that has been carried out to validate these findings, using gelatine instead of soil in order to reduce the wavelengths and thus the scale of the test setup. An expanded polystyrene beam is employed as wave barrier, while a non-contact measurement procedure is applied for visualizing the waves in the gelatine, based on reflections of a grid of laser rays. The experimental results are found to be in line with the numerical predictions, confirming the vibration reduction effectiveness of stiff wave barriers.

Highlights • Stiff wave barriers can impede the propagation of Rayleigh waves in the soil. • A lab experiment is carried out to validate the findings from numerical simulations. • Gelatine instead of soil is used to make a small scale experiment feasible. • A non-contact measurement technique is employed for visualizing the wavefield in gelatine. • The experimental results are found to be in line with the numerical predictions.