Hindawi

Shock and Vibration

Volume 2018, Article ID 2506909, 12 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2506909

Research Article
The Influence of the Track Parameters on Vibration
Characteristics of Subway Tunnel

Wenbo Shi ,1,2 Linchang Miao ,3 Junhui Luo ,4 and Honglei Zhang 5

1
School of Traffic and Transportation, Xuchang College, Xuchang 461000, China
2
Henan Small and Medium-Sized Cities Public Transport Information Engineering Research Center, Xuchang 461000, China
3
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, China
4
Guangxi Communications Planning Surveying and Designing Institute Co., Ltd., Nanning 530029, China
5
Henan Zhibo Architectural Design Group Co., Ltd., Xuchang 461000, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Wenbo Shi; shwanbe@163.com and Linchang Miao; lc.miao@seu.edu.cn

Received 13 March 2018; Revised 23 May 2018; Accepted 19 June 2018; Published 18 October 2018

Academic Editor: Elena Dragomirescu

Copyright © 2018 Wenbo Shi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In soft soil areas, such as the Nanjing, it is very important to quantitatively analyze the dynamic behaviors of soft soils during the
metro train operation. A nonlinear coupling model of wheel-track and a finite element calculation model of tunnel and soil were
established based on the mechanical character of elastic supporting block ballastless track and the actual parameters of Nanjing
soft soil. The time-variant vertical acceleration of the rail, the sleepers, and the surface of the tunnel can be calculated by the
models, and the frequency dependence acceleration was verified by the fast Fourier transform algorithm. A modified vibration
power level for human sensitivity was used to quantify the vibration energy of each part of the system, and the impact of the
parameters in the model was evaluated. The results can be applied to the metro design and construction, which also can be the
guidance during the tunnel construction.

1. Introduction soil, usually consist of two independent sections. Studies on

vehicle-track dynamics have been performed for a long time
With the continuous development of urbanization, the in many countries through the establishment of coupling
urban traffic is getting increasingly crowded. It is turning model. Timoshenko [3] presented to use the frequency-
into the biggest chronic disease of the cities [1], which domain technique to analyze track dynamics with contin-
consists of traffic congestion, fog and haze weather, vehicle uously supported Euler beam. Xu et al. [4] established the
noise, and so on, and the subway is a best way to solve it. The vehicle/track interaction model, which can be used to reveal
metro that plays an important role in the modern life begins the interaction mechanisms between the moving vehicles
to spring up in many cities of China, and it shows a fast, and the guiding tracks. Aggestam et al. [5] evaluated the
convenient, and environment-friendly way. China’s metro wheel-rail contact forces, bending moments in the concrete
construction is entering a new period when both the con- panel and load distributions on the supporting foundation
struction speed and scale are first in the world, with 94 lines by two generic slab track models including one or two layers
in operation, 120 lines in construction, and over 150 billion of concrete slabs. Lopes et al. [6] focused on the experimental
gross investment [2]. However, the vibrations induced by the validation of a numerical approach previously proposed for
high-speed moving metro trains for the surrounding metro the prediction of vibrations inside buildings due to railway
lines will become a significant problem which has to be traffic in tunnels. Three autonomous models compose the
solved. numerical model in order to simulate the generation,
The research studies, which include metro vehicle and propagation, and reception of vibrations. Studies in recent
track coupling system and vibration energy transform in the years have been a trend to regard the vehicle and track model
2 Shock and Vibration

as an integral system on dynamics of wheel-rail interactions process of vehicle operation, because the soft clay has the
[7–12]. characteristics of high water content, big compressibility,
Research that focused on the propagation of vibration and low intention. The practical engineering shows that the
caused from the wheel-rail exceeding in the soil has also been subsidence generated approximately 16 cm of Shanghai
developed many years in the world. The models, which used metro line 1 during the metro long-term operation, and the
to solve the problem of vibration wave propagation in the soil largest subsidence near the Helen Road station has reached
caused by metro operation, can be classified into two cate- 30 cm [25], and thus, analyzing the effect of track parameters
gories: the finite element models (FEMs) and analytical on the vibration energy generate and transform in soft soil
method. Analytical method is confined by many hypotheses, area has important implications.
like supposing the soil material as elastic continuum material,
supposing the load applied on the tunnel is harmonic in both 2. Vehicle-Track Coupling Model
space and time, and so on. Forrest and Hunt [13] described
a three-dimensional model for the dynamics of a deep un- The settlement of the soft soil surrounding along metro lines
derground railway tunnel in infinite soil, and the ground is caused by the long-term cyclic loading during the metro
vibration due to excitation by running trains in frequency 20 operation. The magnitude of settlement mainly depends on
to 100 Hz was analyzed. Bian et al. [14] used a 2.5D FEM the force at the vehicle-track contact and the vertical vi-
formulation with viscous artificial boundaries to model wave bration acceleration of the system; thus, how to reduce the
propagation from underground moving loads. The periodic effect of the vibration becomes a key, which can decrease the
2.5D FEM models for the dynamic simulation of tunnels have soil settlement. Considering the vehicle leading and trailing
been extensively applied to simulate the dynamic interaction bogie symmetrically arranged in general, and the ups and
between soil and tunnel structures [15, 16]. Many models downs of vibration of car body with nodding vibration will
established in research papers above assumed radius of the not cause coupling, the half car body model is established,
model from the center of the tunnel increases towards infinity which is based on the geometric characteristics of the elastic
in every direction; therefore, it can not calculate the remnant supporting block ballastless track, as shown in Figure 1.
vibration energy transform to the surface of the soil. The
subway operation problem is clearly a moving load problem, 3. The Vehicle Model of the Metro Train
and some elegant solutions in FEM appear in the literature.
Amado-Mendes et al. [17] devised the subway finite element As shown in Figure 1, Mc , Mt , and Mw stand for the quality
model to determine the dynamic stress and analyzed dynamic of half train body, the bogie, and the wheel set, respectively;
response under vibration loading. The relationship between Jt is nod inertia of the body’s frame; Ksz and Kpz is the
the train speed and the vibrations on the track with a FEM stiffness of the vehicle primary and secondary suspension;
model is studied by El Kacimi et al. [18]. Gardien and Stuit Csz and Cpz is the damping of the vehicle primary and
[19] established a modular model that consists of static de- secondary suspension; and z1 and z2 are, respectively, for the
flection model, track model, and the propagation model, and location of the wheel-rail contact irregularity. Vibration
the effect of change element size, soil stiffness, damping, and equation about the upper part of the vehicle model is
boundary conditions is analyzed. Ekevid et al. [20] described established according to the Hamilton principle as follows:
in detail the mesh refinement and coarsening in the case of 􏼂Mu 􏼃{u€} + 􏼂Cu 􏼃{u_ } + 􏼂Ku 􏼃{u} � 􏼈Pu 􏼉. (1)
HST applications, with successful validations. Ju [21] in-
vestigated the characteristics of building vibrations induced
by adjacent moving trucks using finite element analyses. 4. The Track Model of the Metro
Regarding urban traffic, research is scarcer. Andersen and
Jones [22] investigated the quality of the results obtained from The elastic supporting block ballastless track is supported by
a 2D-coupled FE-BE model comparing it with a 3D-coupled rail, fasteners, concrete supporting block, rubber pads under
FE-BE model. Real et al. [23] developed a 3D numerical FEM supporting block, rubber boots, concrete track bed, etc., and
model of a railway tunnel to predict railway-induced vibra- the track’s vertical stiffness and damping is mainly provided
tions. Vogiatzis [24] studied the effect of ground-borne vi- by the fasteners and the piece of rubber pad. These com-
brations generated by underground metro and their effects on ponents of the model can use the stiffness and damping
ancient monuments. parameters to describe them, such as, Kr , Cr and Ks , Cs ,
The research of the subway system mostly focused on the respectively. Thus, acceleration of vibration of the elastic
vibration damping track, and the vehicle-wheel coupling supporting block ballastless track is mainly reflected on the
system was established; the effect on the environment by rail and concrete supporting block.
subway vibration was discussed through field measurement Newton and Clark [26] analyzed the impact on the
and data fitting during the metro operation. Quantitatively vehicle-track coupling nonlinear system with assuming track
analyzing each parameter’s influences, which focused on for Euler beam and Timoshenko beam, respectively. The
system vibration energy causing and spreading, is particu- results showed that the Timoshenko beam has a higher
larly important through establishing a vehicle-rail-sleeper- accuracy when analyzing the rail shear stress; however, the
ballast-lining-soil body model. The subway tunnel buried in computational time was higher for the Timoshenko beam.
a soft soil area will have a big settlement, which is caused by This paper uses the Euler model because the two beams have
the vibration energy of vehicle long cycle action during the little difference in accuracy in the analysis of the vertical
Shock and Vibration 3

Mc Jc zc
􏼂M1 􏼃􏼈q€􏼉 + 􏼂C1 􏼃􏼈q_􏼉 + 􏼂K1 􏼃􏼈q􏼉 � 􏼈P1 􏼉. (7)

The enough mode number is the guarantee to be the

Ksz Csz
precision in the process of solving the vibration equation of
Mt the track by using the modal analysis method [29]. The
βt
zt results of numerical calculations show that the calculation
v
Kpz Cpz accuracy can well meet the requirements if the mode number
is greater than 0.5 L/Ls, where L is the rail length and Ls is the
Mw zw2 Mw zw1 distance of the adjacent sleepers.
z2 z1 +∞
EI,mr
Zr 5. Nonlinear Contact Stress Calculation of
kr cr
the Wheel-Track
ms Zs
ks cs The wheel-track contact stress can be calculated based on
Hertz nonlinear contact theory, and the wheel-track vertical
force is as follows:
Figure 1: The half-vehicle-track coupled nonlinear model.
3/2
1
p(t) � 􏼔 δZ(t) 􏼕 , (8)
G
vibration displacement of the track. The differential equation
of rail vibration deformation under the relevant knowledge where G is the wheel-rail contact constant, a wheel-rail
of mechanics of materials is as follows: contact constant’s empirical formula for a contact con-
N stant is G � 4.57R−0.149 × 10−8 , and δZ(t) is for elastic
z4 Zr (x, t) z2 Zr (x, t) compression between the wheel and track.
EI + m r � − 􏽘 Frsi (t)δ x − xi 􏼁
zx4 zt2 i�1 It can be very well to connect the upper vehicle model
(2) and the lower track model, which made them as a complete
2
system with Equation (8).
+ 􏽘 pj (t)δ􏼐x − xwj 􏼑,
j�1
where Frsi (t) � Kpi [Zr (xi , t) − Zsi (t)] + Cpi [Z_ r (xi , t) 6. The Newmark Integration Method
− Z_ si (t)], δ is the Dirac function, Zsi (t) is the sleeper vibration
displacement, Frsi is the reaction supporting force of the ith Time-stepping integration provides the best way for a nu-
root sleeper, and pj is the wheel-rail coupling force at the sites merical solution of the equations of motion of the vehicle-
of jth wheels. track system including nonlinearities. Writing the vehicle
The vibration equation on sleeper is as follows: vibration equation and the track vibration equation in
a same way is shown in the following equation:
Kp 􏼂Zr xi , t􏼁 − Zsi (t)􏼃 + Cp 􏽨Z_ r xi , t􏼁 − Z_ si (t)􏽩
(3) [M]{x€} +[C]{x_ } +[K]{x} � {P}. (9)
− Kb Zsi (t) − Cb Z_ si (t) � Msi Z€si (t).
Assumptions on the two ends of the rail are simply The useful approach to calculate these equations is the
supported, the boundary conditions for the moment can be method of the Newmark explicit iterative which is used
obtained, and the displacement of the rail and bending widely in engineering practice. Assuming that {x€}t−1 , {x_ }t ,
moment on the cross section is zero at x � 0 [27, 28]. and {x}t are known at time t, in t + Δt moment, the equation
The corresponding characteristic function, namely, the solution can be expressed as follows:
free vibration modal is as follows: ⎪
⎧ 1
rπx ⎪ 2 2
Yr (x) � C1 sin (r � 1, 2, . . .). (4) ⎨ {x}n+1 � {x}n + {x_ }n Δt + 􏼒2 + ψ 􏼓{x€}n Δt − ψ {x€}n−1 Δt ,
⎪
l ⎪
⎪
⎪
By orthogonal processing of the characteristic function ⎩
L √���� {x_ }n+1 � {x_ }n +(1 + φ){x€}n Δt − φ{x€}n−1 Δt,
by 􏽒0 mY2r (x)dx � 1, it can be obtained that C1 � 2/ml,
(10)
and then the free vibration
􏽲��� modal equation is as follows:
2 rπx where Δt is the time step and ψ and φ are free parameters which
Yr (x) � sin (r � 1, 2, . . .). (5)
ml l control the stability and numerical dissipation of the algorithm.
The next step vibration expression can be written as shown in
So
􏽳��� Equation (11) by substituting the above solving method with
2 kπx initial condition into the system vibration equation:
Zr xi , t􏼁 � Y(x)q(t) � sin q (t). (6)
mr l l k [M]{x€}n+1 +[C]n+1 {x_ }n+1 +[K]n+1 {x}n+1 � {P}n+1 . (11)

Simplifying the track nonlinearity equations by For each time step, calculate the displacements and ve-
substituting Equation (6) into Equations (2) and (3), the final locities of the vehicle calculate model (1) and the track cal-
vibration equation is as follows: culate model (7) with the Newmark integration method, and
4 Shock and Vibration

10

Irregularity amplidute (mm)

5

–5

–10

–15
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (s)
Figure 2: Track random irregularity.

Table 1: Vehicle parameters in specific value.

Half
Bogie Bogie pitch Wheel Primary Primary The second The second Half of
vehicle
Quantity quality moment of quality suspension suspension suspension suspension bogie
quality
(Mt) inertia (Jt) (Mw) stiffness (Ksz) damping (Csz) stiffness (Kpz) damping (Cpz) wheelbase (lh)
(Mc)
Value 38500 kg 2980 kg 3605 kg/m2 1350 kg 2.14 × 106 N/m 4.9 × 104 N·s/m 2.535 × 106 N/m 1.96 × 105 N·s/m 1.2 m

the nonlinear wheel-track contact forces can then be de- the sleeper’s displacement during train service and used
termined based on the calculated Equation (8). With these a modified beam on an elastic foundation method (BOEF) to
known results, the accelerations of the vehicle and the track are calculate the displacement of the sleeper. The time domain
finally calculated from each equation of motion. result is shown in Figure 3.
These show similar behavior of the sleeper displacement
during the operation in Figure 3. The calculation of vehicle-
7. Applying of the Stochastic Irregularity track coupled model is closer to the measured one when
compared with BOEF method; nevertheless, the decay of the
In general, the stochastic irregularity in the vehicle-track displacement is slower than BOEF method because of the
modelling is used to represent the vehicle travel state be- characteristic of the modal analysis.
cause of the nondeterministic excitation in the wheel-track The accuracy of the vibration prediction depends on the
system. As the rail surface geometry is influenced by many chosen input parameters in the system. The vehicle-track
complex factors, these effects caused by the track irregularity nonlinear coupling system can be used to analyze the in-
have obvious randomness. The spectrum density function of fluence of the parameters’ change on the system vibration,
the metro track for line grade six from America Railway including vehicle speed, the stiffness and damping of the
Standard is used in this calculation. The simulation using fastener and the rubber pad, random irregularity, and wave
trigonometric series method converts track irregularity power depth. Nevertheless, the most easily implemented measure is
spectrum to the time domain excitation function which applied to adjust the stiffness and damping of the fastener and the
to the system as a random excitation. The final amplitude rubber pad for the engineering practice. Thus, analysis effect
curves of vertical track irregularity is shown in Figure 2. of the stiffness and damping of the fastener and the rubber
pad will play a key role in the vibration-controlling tech-
nique design of the practical engineering.
8. The Result Solutions of the Vehicle-Track According to the nonlinear-coupled system established
Coupled Model earlier, the rail and sleeper vibration acceleration in time
domain can be obtained in the process of metro vehicles
The parameters adopted for computing system at Section 1 driving shown in Figures 4 and 5 shows the acceleration
are listed in Tables 1 and 2. power spectrum density of the rail and sleeper vibration.
The speed of the metro vehicle is 40–80 km/h in a general Figures 4 and 5 show that the acceleration amplitude of
way, and the faster the speed is, the bigger the wheel-track the rail vibration is bigger than the sleeper, which illustrates
contact force is. In this calculation, the speed of the vehicle is the energy of vibration attenuated in the spread of rail, fas-
set to 80 km/h. According to the vehicle-track nonlinear teners, sleeper, and the rubber pad. Thus, the quantitative
coupled calculation model shown at Section 1 and the pa- analysis of track parameters is of great significance for vi-
rameter values shown at Tables 1 and 2, the displacement of bration energy transmission system.
the sleeper in the process of metro vehicle driving can be Single bogie is able to be applied for the qualitative
basically in agreement with the Newmark integration analysis of influence on vibration generation and attenua-
method. Priest and Powrie [30] used geophones to measure tion during its transform by parameter change.
 Shock and Vibration

Table 2: Wheel coupling system orbit parameters in specific value.

The quality of Fastener Under the sleeper Under the sleeper C40 concrete Concrete
Rail elastic Rail section Fastener Sleeper The sleeper
Quantity the rail unit vertical rubber pad rubber pad elastic Poisson’s
modulus (E) inertia (I) damping (Cr) quality (ms) spacing (a)
length (mr) stiffness (Kr) stiffness (Ks) damping (Cs) modulus (Ec) ratio (])
Value 60 kg/m 2.059 × 1011 Pa 2.037 × 10−5 m4 7.8 × 107 N/m 5 × 104 N·s/m 0.545 m 7.8 × 107 N/m 5.88 × 104 N·s/m 3 × 1010 Pa 0.2
5
6 Shock and Vibration

0.35 9. The Introduction of the Modified Vibration

0.30
Power Level Index
Displacement (mm)

0.25
0.20
0.15 The modified vibration power level index is used to quantify
0.10 the sense of the human body for the environmental vibration
0.05 and to clearly recognize the harm to human body by vi-
0.00 bration. According to the recommendations in International
–0.05
–0.10 Standards Organization (ISO2631), the most sensitive hu-
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 man body to vibration frequency is mainly concentrated in
Time (s) the domain of 1–80 Hz, meanwhile the human body re-
Vehicle-track couple model sponds to the vibration of different directions shown in
Measured Figure 7.
BOEF Based on the investigations of International Standards
Organization, human body sensitive degree is different to
Figure 3: Comparison of measured sleeper displacement with that
obtained from using the vehicle-track coupled model and BOEF the vibration of different frequency ranges [31]. The mod-
model for a single bogie. ified vibration power level is an index to evaluate the in-
fluence of vibration on human by amending the effective
amplitude of acceleration based on human reactivity, and
4 the unit of the modified vibration power level is dB, which
Amplitude of the acceleration

3 shows the logarithmic ratio of vibration energy. The defi-

2 nition of vibration energy index formula is as follows:
1 a
Le � 20 log e , (13)
(m∗s–2)

0 a0
–1
where a0 � 1 × 10−6 m/s2 and ae is the correction of accel-
–2 eration RMS, and the specified solving equation is as follows:
–3 􏽱�����������
–4
ae � 􏽘 a2n · 10Cn /10 , (14)
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Time (s) where an is the effective acceleration amplitude for n Hz and
Rail Cn is the modification value according to the human re-
Sleeper sponse to vibration, as shown in Figure 7, and the specific
value is given in Table 3.
Figure 4: Rail and sleeper vibration acceleration time-domain
amplitude. The rail and sleeper vibration acceleration amplitude in
time domain can be calculated according to the vehicle-track
coupling nonlinear model presented in this paper; and then
30 its power spectral density amplitude is obtained by the fast
Fourier transform. However, the analysis of the data often
25
Admittance (m∗s–2∗Hz–1)

adopts the method of 1/2 octave bands to the calculation of

20 modified vibration power level. The standard of 1/2 octave
bands is the number of center frequency in multiples of 2 of
15 the center frequency, and modified vibration power level of
human feeling can be obtained by the sum of vibration
10
energy in each center frequency range. And the vibration
5 virtual value of acceleration in each center frequency
bandwidth, namely, an , is the vibration acceleration root-
0 20 40 60 80 100
mean-square in the frequency domain, and its expression is
Frequency (Hz) as follows:
􏽱��������������
Rail an � a21 + a22 + a23 + · · ·. (15)
Sleeper
Figure 5: Rail and sleeper vibration acceleration amplitude in Therefore, the influence of each parameter of the system
frequency domain.
on the vibration performance can be calculated by the
modified vibration power level in the proposed model, and
The magnitude of the vertical load on tunnel can be
the quantified analysis effect on the system vibration of
calculated according to Equation (12), and the result is
different parameters has come true by this way.
shown in Figure 6
By using the above method, specific figures of the system
P � Z s Ks + V s C s . (12) vibration power level affected by the change of parameters in
Shock and Vibration 7

30000

Loading applied on the tunnel (N)

25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
–5000
–10000
–15000
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Time (s)
Figure 6: Vertical load applied on the tunnel shell.

5
Frequency (Hz)
0
Body response correction (dB)

4 16 64
–5

–10

–15

–20

–25

–30
Horizontal vibration
Vertical vibration
Figure 7: Human body response to different direction vibration.

Table 3: Modification value of vertical effective acceleration within the center frequency.
1/2 octave bands center frequency (Hz) 1 2 4 8 16 31.5 63 90
Vertical modified vibration power level (dB) −6 −3 0 0 −6 −12 −18 −21

the vehicle-track coupled model can be collected; the result is Figures 10 and 11 show that the track vibration power level
shown in Figures 8 and 9. reduces 25 dB and the sleeper vibration power level decreases
The result shows that the track vibration power level more than 45 dB when the stiffness of the under sleepers’
reduces nearly 23 dB when the stiffness of fastener increases rubber pad also increases from 0.5 × 107 N/m to 100 × 107 N/m.
from 0.5 × 107 N/m to 100 × 107 N/m, but vibration power At the same time, the vibration power level of the rail will be
level of the sleeper reduces less than 2 dB. Similarly, track reduced nearly 7 dB and sleeper vibration power level will be
vibration power level will decrease 6 dB when damping of lost about 4 dB when the damping of the rubber pad increased
the fastener increases from 0.5 × 104 N·s/m to 50 × 104 N·s/m from 0.5 × 104 N·s/m to 50 × 104 N·s/m. Thus, it can be seen
and vibration power level of the sleeper reduces nearly 2 dB. that increasing the stiffness of fastener and under sleeper
Changing stiffness and damping of the fastener have great rubber pad can significantly reduce the rail and sleeper vi-
influence on the vibration performance of rail, but the effect of bration power level. The vibration of the subgrade is small in
the vibration of the sleeper damping is small. Meanwhile, elastic supporting block ballastless track system, so the in-
stiffness change of the fastener has better consequence on fluence of the stiffness and damping of rubber pad which at the
vibration attenuation. However, it is bound to reduce de- bottom of the system on the vibration characteristics is bigger.
formation of the track caused by vibration and to restrict the Rail and sleeper vibration energy are basic agreement when
development of the long wave acceleration if the stiffness of the stiffness of the rubber pad is relatively small. The main
the fastener is blindly increased. In addition, the stiffness of reason is that the lower rigidity leads to large deformations of the
the fastener that is increased will lead to the increment of the rubber pad when the overlying load transfers to it and the
wheel-track coupling force and the generation of noise. stiffness increment of the fasteners cannot be able to play its role
8 Shock and Vibration

111 116
106 108

Vibration level (dB)

101
Vibration level (dB)

100
96 92

91 84

86 76

81 68

76 60

0.0E + 00

2.0E + 08

4.0E + 08

6.0E + 08

8.0E + 08

1.0E + 09
0.0E + 00

2.0E + 08

4.0E + 08

6.0E + 08

8.0E + 08

1.0E + 09
Stiffness of the fastener (N·m–1) Stiffness of the rubber pad (N·m–1)

Rail Rail
Sleeper Sleeper
Figure 8: The influence of stiffness of fastener on the vibration Figure 10: The influence of stiffness of the rubber pad on the
power level. vibration power level.

95
95
92
Vibration level (dB)

92
Vibration level (dB)

89
89
86
86
83
83
80
0.0E + 00

1.0E + 05

2.0E + 05

3.0E + 05

4.0E + 05

5.0E + 05

80
0.0E + 00

1.0E + 05

2.0E + 05

3.0E + 05

4.0E + 05

5.0E + 05
Damping of the fastener (N·s·m–1)
Damping of the rubber pad (N·s·m–1)
Rail
Sleeper Rail
Sleeper
Figure 9: The influence of damping of fastener on the vibration
power level. Figure 11: The influence of damping of the rubber pad on the
vibration power level.
in the system. The small stiffness of the rubber pad made the
structure on it to form an integral whole when the large vi-
bration load transfers from the rail to here. has great impact on the construction and residents’ life when
In the whole vehicle-track system, the effect of the it transfers to the subway tunnel surface; therefore, the
stiffness and damping of the fastener will gradually appear analysis of the change of damping and stiffness of the fas-
when the stiffness of the rubber pad increases, the difference tener and sleeper rubber pad is of great significance to the
of the rail and sleeper vibration energy amplitude gradually influence of vibration energy spreading to the surface.
expend as shown in Figure 10. The deformation is small The finite element method is used to calculate the accel-
which is caused by the vehicle-track exciting force when the eration of an arbitrary point in the soil due to an operation
stiffness of the rubber pad is increased to a greater value vehicle. The superiority of the finite element method is to analyze
under low frequency arrange. Thus, the vertical vibration the interaction between the tunnel segments and the sur-
speed of the sleeper will be decreased as the damping of the rounding soft soil, and the subroutine can be used to simulate the
sleeper increased, which will also reduce strain velocity of soil to ensure the validity of the result calculated in the model.
the track and then affect its vibration energy change. According to the size of elastic supporting block bal-
lastless track, the finite element model was established.
10. The Finite Element Modelling Generally, the size of mesh must be at least 1/8th wave-
lengths to ensure calculated precision when meshing the
Vibration will generate because of track irregularity during finite element model [32]. The size of mesh should be around
the metro operation. The vibration energy passes onto the 2.4 m because the nature frequency of vibration in Nanjing
soil via rail, sleeper, track ballast, and tunnel lining, and it soft soils is 10–80 Hz and the speed of stress wave is 190 m/s,
Shock and Vibration 9

and the finite element model is set up as shown in Figure 12.

The model boundary conditions are symmetrical layout
along the tunnel axis, and at the bottom, the right-hand, and
the left-hand, the viscous-spring boundary conditions are
applied. The viscous-spring boundary conditions made the
model seem like an infinite layered half-space, and the vi-
bration energy will decay to zero and without any reflections.
The connection between tunnel lining and subgrade is set as
surface-to-surface contact, the normal behavior is “hard”
contact, and the tangential behavior is friction contact,
which may simulate the mechanical relationship between
lining and subgrade well. The connection between sur-
rounding soil and tunnel lining is set as Tie [33].
The exciting force is calculated by the vehicle-track
coupled model shown in Figure 6. The load applied on
the subgrade of the finite model systematically during the Figure 12: The finite model of the metro tunnel.
metro operation is shown in Figure 13, and the vibration
acceleration of an arbitrary point can be computed during
the vehicle operating.
The finite element model of the metro tunnel is made up
of track bed slab, subgrad, and tunnel lining, and supposing
these components are liner-elastic material. In the simulate
calculation, the track bed slab and subgrad using C40
concrete which value is shown in Table 4, and the tunnel
lining uses concrete labeled C55, and the value is shown in
Table 5. Figure 13: The load applied on the finite model.
The clay is the soft soil of Nanjing of China for the finite
element model calculation. The samples were sampled by
thin-wall soil samples from the site of Nanjing metro 4 line, Table 4: Track bed slab and subgrad parameter values.
and the sampler is cylindrical for 30 cm high and 11 cm Quantity Young’s modulus (E) Poisson’s ratio (]) Density (ρ)
diameter, as shown in Figure 14. The dynamic triaxial tests
Value 3.25 × 1010 Pa 0.2 2450 kg/m3
are constructed by the GDS system shown in Figure 15. The
GDS dynamic triaxial system can do the real-time moni-
toring during the tests; therefore, test data can be recorded more than the change of the damping of them from Fig-
and accessed in high speed. The calculation parameters of ures 18 and 19. Meanwhile, the impact of changing the
the soft soil for the segment-soil interaction-coupled model stiffness of sleeper rubber pad is the largest and the vibration
are measured under cyclic load of 75 kPa, 1 Hz frequency, power level of the surface reduces 2.5 dB when the stiffness
and 5000 load cycles, and the specific value of the parameters increased from 0.5 × 107 N/m to 100 × 107 N/m, while the
are shown in Table 6. change of the other parameters is not significantly affected at
According to the stress-strain curves based on the hy- the surface vibration power level.
perbolic shape established by Hardin and Drnevich [34], Vibration energy continuously decays during the spread
setting up the functional relationships between the dynamic through rail, sleeper, ballast bed, lining, and the soil, as shown
elastic modulus and dynamic strains is shown in Figure 16: in Figure 20. It decays almost 9% when transferring from rail
to sleeper and attenuates 20% when passing on to the tunnel
E0 lining, while vibration level reduces nearly 38% when vi-
Ed � . (16)
1 + εd /εr 􏼁 bration energy finally transfers to the surface of the ground.

According to the result of the experiment, we got the 11. Conclusion

parameter values for Nanjing soft clay: E0 � 47.2 and
The parameters of fastener and sleeper rubber pad influences
εd � 0.038. Dynamic elastic modulus is used in the finite
on the system vibration characteristics are analyzed in this
element software, and the quantitative influence of material
paper by establishing wheel-track nonlinear coupling dy-
parameters of fastener and under sleeper rubber pad on
namic model and the finite element model, specifically:
vibration energy transform in the soft soil to the surface of
the earth is studied. The acceleration of the surface is cal- (1) The vibration energy indicator combined with hu-
culated by the finite model is shown in Figure 17. man sensitivity is introduced to research the vi-
By changing the stiffness of the fastener and sleeper, the bration characteristics of the system, and the results
calculation results are shown in Figures 18 and 19, respectively. can be more intuitive to show the influence of
The fact can be found that the surface vibration power various parameters on the system vibration
level of the stiffness change of fastener and sleeper is obvious characteristics.
10 Shock and Vibration

Table 5: Tunnel lining parameter values.

Quantity Young’s modulus (E) Poisson’s ratio (]) Density (ρ) Inner diameter (a) Thickness of the tunnel shell (h)
Value 3.45 × 1010 Pa 0.17 2450 kg/m3 2.7 m 0.3 m

Figure 14: Cylindrical samples.

Figure 15: GDS test system.

Table 6: The parameter of the soil.

Poisson’s Pressure wave Shear wave Volumetric Hysteretic loss
Quantity Density (ρ)
ratio (]) velocity (c1) velocity (c2) damping (ηK) factor (ηG)
Value 0.3 1859 kg/m3 524 m/s 190 m/s 0 0.06

(2) Increasing the stiffness and damping of fastener and

100
under sleeper rubber pad can make a direct result of
90
rail, sleeper vibration energy reduction, at the same
80
time, the increasing stiffness of fastener and rubber pad
70
can reduce the vibration energy, and the effect is higher
60
Ed (MPa)

50
than increasing the damping. Meanwhile, changing the
40
stiffness of the sleeper rubber pad has the greatest
30 impact on the vibration level of rail, sleeper, and the
20 surface soil. The changing stiffness of the fastener has
10 great influence on the vibration level of rail and sleeper,
0 while a certain impact will happen on the vibration
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 level of the system when the damping of the fastener
εd (%) and sleeper rubber pad changed, but it is relatively
Test points small to the change of stiffness.
Fit curve (3) During the operation of the metro vehicle, the vi-
Figure 16: The relationship between dynamic elastic modulus and bration energy continuously decays pass through
dynamic strains. rail, sleeper, the tunnel lining, and finally the soil,
Shock and Vibration 11

0.010 1.05

Normalized vibration power level

Surface of earth vibration acceleration (m/s2)

1.00
0.008
0.95
0.006 0.90
0.85
0.004
0.80
0.002 0.75
0.70
0.000 0.65
–0.002 0.60
0.55

Tunnel lining
Rail

Sleeper

Ground surface
–0.004

–0.006

–0.008
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time (s)
Figure 20: The attenuation of vibration energy in the system.
Figure 17: The time history of the acceleration.

and eventually, vibration energy reaching the surface

is only 62% of the rail vibration energy.
58
Surface of the earth vibration

57.5 Data Availability

57
level (dB)

56.5 The data used to support the findings of this study are
56
available from the corresponding author upon request.
55.5
55
Conflicts of Interest
54.5 The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
0.0E + 00

2.0E + 08

4.0E + 08

6.0E + 08

8.0E + 08

1.0E + 09

Acknowledgments
Stiffness (N·m–1)
The National Natural Science Foundation of China (no.
Stiffness of the fastener 51278099) supported this work.
Stiffness of the sleeper
Figure 18: The influence of stiffness change on the vibration power References
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