Experimental and numerical study on free field motion due to passage of high-speed train considering different types of soil

A field measurement of ground vibration was performed on the Istanbul-Ankara high speed railway in Sakarya-Turkey, using seismometers. By placing the seismometers at difference distances from the track, the passage of different trains were recorded. In the first part of the paper, a two-dimensional numerical model which is based on finite element method applied for the purpose of studying ground vibrations and validating experimental results. The dynamic analysis of the proposed railway-soil coupled model has been performed in the time domain under plain-strain condition by using PLAXIS 2D commercial FEM software. In the verification process, the experimental results were compared with those from numerical analysis. In the second part of the paper, the train induced vibrations for different types of soil are analysed. Analysis was performed for four types of soil; the soils were specified as soft, medium, dense and rock. High-speed train was used as a dynamic source to observe the differences in behavior of dynamic ground motions at different types of soil. Results showed that the peak acceleration values of the train induced vibrations at the soft, medium and dense sites increased dramatically compared to the rock site.