Non-linear 2-D FE analysis for the assessment of isolation performance of wave impeding barrier in reduction of railway-induced surface waves

The establishment of wave impeding barriers (WIBs) beneath the railway track or below the protected residential buildings resting on soft soil can be commonly used to reduce the ground borne vibrations caused by high-speed train traffic. This paper deals with the non-linear 2D finite element modeling for the prediction of shielding performance of WIB on the dynamic response of vibrating coupled soil–structure system. Energy absorbing boundaries along the truncated interfaces of the unbounded nature of the underlying soil media are implemented in the time domain along with Newmark’s integration. This numerical model and its computational work were adapted with simulation of the passing train load completely account for plastic deformations of the underlying soil medium under Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion and directly predicting the reduction effect on the structural response. Extensive parametric investigations for both passive and active isolation cases under different train speeds have been performed to reveal the influence of its wave impedance ratio on the shielding efficiency. The important findings based on obtained numerical results are presented.

► Train induced wave propagation problem with soil–structure interaction effects is analyzed.
► FE model accounts for plastic deformations of the underlying soil under MC failure criterion.
► The shielding performance of WIB is examined in terms of the impedance ratio.
► The reduction effect of WIB is investigated for both active and passive isolation cases.
► The WIB having low impedance is effective in isolating structural response for active screen.