The Influence of Rail Unevenness Profile on the Generation of Ground Vibrations by Railway Traffic

This paper presents a sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of random rail unevenness profiles on the generation of ground-borne vibrations. The random profiles are generated from a power spectral density function, assuming that the uneven rail surface is governed by a stationary Gaussian random process in space. Different proposals are employed to generate these profiles. A previously validated PiP model is used to perform a set of parametric studies, involving the dynamic simulation of a train–track–tunnel–ground system. It was found that the number of harmonics in generating ground-borne vibrations has a residual impact on the evaluated vibration levels. The main differences observed, although not significant, are attributed to the stochastic nature of the rail unevenness profile. More critically, it is important to highlight that different existing approaches for generating the PSD function have a pronounced impact on the evaluated vibration levels.