Reduction of high-speed train-induced building vibrations by protective trenches

Numerical analyses for structure-soil interaction were carried out to investigate the attenuation effect of open, inundated water and concrete-filled trenches on high-speed train loading-induced Rayleigh wave propagation. The acceleration and effective stress at some key points of a six-storey surface structure were comparatively studied with commercial software LS-DYNA for the protection of open trenches, inundated water trenches, concrete-filled trenches and no protection. Numerical results reveal that open trenches even inundated with water can effectively reduce peak acceleration and effective stress. However, concrete-filled trenches are not effective in the attenuations of peak acceleration and effective stress. Therefore, an open trench is still a good choice as a temporary protection barrier, though it is susceptible to collapse without effective support.