Propagation and Attenuation of Statistically Stationary Ground Vibrations due to Human Activities
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 9
Abstract
Ground vibrations induced by human activities that can be considered a statistically stationary process can be represented by analytical solutions to Lamb’s problem. For a viscously damped half-space modeled as a Kelvin-Voigt solid, the attenuation is governed by radiation and an exponential law with an argument dependent on the soil’s damping ratio and Rayleigh wavelength. An estimator of the damping ratio is presented based on an energy analysis, and a field scale is introduced to filter near-field components from measurements. A spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW)–type test is used to determine the Rayleigh wave velocity through a frequency wavenumber transformation of the wave field, and the vibrations caused by a periodic excitation are used to determine the damping ratio. A comparison against a pseudo-attenuation power law is presented in terms of ground vibration prediction.
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Acknowledgments
The first author wishes to thank the Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Buenos Aires for financial support through the Peruilh Fellowship, the collaboration of members of the Laboratorio de Dinámica de Estructuras (LABDIN) in performing the field tests, the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional Facultad Regional General Pacheco for allowing the authors to carry out the tests on their campus, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 9 • September 2019
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©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jun 15, 2018
Accepted: Feb 5, 2019
Published online: Jul 15, 2019
Published in print: Sep 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Dec 15, 2019
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