Field vibration mitigation by honeycomb WIB for pile foundations of a high-speed train viaduct

Environmental vibrations from recent high-speed trains are becoming a special concern in the civil and environmental engineering field since they can give detrimental effects to residents, sensitive equipments and high-tech production facilities in the vicinity of train tacks. Herein, aiming at the vibration mitigation for a specific high-tech industrial area, the low-frequency vibrations from a train viaduct are targeted over an anticipated range. A theoretically designed innovative countermeasure, called honeycomb wave impeding barrier (WIB) for a wave impeding barrier, is introduced and its effects are investigated by computer simulation. The present WIB is based on the wave dispersion phenomenon that can modulate the incoming wavelengths into the shorter wavelengths, creating an apparent wave cut-off characteristic in the wave field across WIB installation area. The shorter wavelengths are further impeded due to the impedance ratio of the WIB walls and in-fill materials and absorbed by the in-fills more. The three-dimensional FEM simulation demonstrates a dramatic reduction effect that is difficult to achieve by conventional measures.