Field investigation of structure-borne noise propagation in buildings above high-speed railway tunnels

Buildings constructed above high-speed railway tunnels represent an innovative model for intensive land use. However, they face significant challenges from train-induced vibrations and subsequent structure-borne noise. To investigate the propagation characteristics of this noise, a field measurement was conducted on an 18-story shear wall residential building above a railway tunnel. Vibration and indoor noise signals on different floors were synchronously recorded during train passages. The results indicate that the building's vertical vibration attenuates with increasing floor height, with the floor slab center showing a stronger response than structural columns. The indoor structure-borne noise levels within the characteristic frequency band (20-80 Hz) exhibit a “high at both ends, low in the middle” distribution, being more significant on lower floors and upper floors compared to middle floors. Within the 20-100 Hz characteristic band, a relatively stable transfer relationship exists between the structure-borne noise sound pressure level and the floor vibration velocity level, although significant deviations occur at structural or acoustic resonance frequencies. Influenced by the indoor background noise, the overall linear correlation between vibration and noise is not strong on some floors. This study reveals the propagation patterns of vibration and structure-borne noise in overbuilding structures, providing data and theoretical references for targeted vibration and noise reduction design.