Effects of Lime-Cement Soil Stabilization against Train Induced Ground Vibrations

At low frequencies (around 20 Hz) the maximum level of train-induced ground vibration is highly dependent on train weight as well as train speed. This limits the axle loads and speed allowable for train traffic. Stabilization of the soft soils under the track by for example lime-cement columns is one of the methods that can be used for reducing the level of vibrations. This method has been successfully adopted at Ledsgård, a site in south-western Sweden in order to solve the problem of extensive ground vibrations due to the passage of X2000 high-speed trains. Using result from measurements both before and after the countermeasure and a 3-D FEM model, the effectiveness of the method in mitigating train induced ground vibrations on soft soil is discussed in this paper.