F.E.V.E. tunnel railway. Prediction of ground-borne noise and vibration

The railway line Amezola-Basurto in Bilbao is planned to be converted from a surface line to a tunnel line. The train traffic on the line is mainly suburban trains operated by FEVE and a few freight trains. The new tunnel will be a concrete tunnel of the main dimensions approximately 9 meters wide and 6 meters high inside, and walls with a thickness of half a meter. Two ballasted tracks will be installed inside the tunnel. In order to predict the vibration levels and the noise levels inside the dwellings, the complete calculation procedure has been divided into several steps each holding different calculation models. The first step is to calculate the force spectrum from the passing trains is estimated. The second step is to calculate the transmission of force from the rail to the ground below the ballast is calculated. The third step is to obtain the transmission of force from below the ballast to vibrations in front of the house is calculated and the last step is to obtain the transmission of vibration in front of the house to vibration and noise inside the house is calculated. Detailed and advanced finite element models have been applied for the calculation of the transmission of vibrations from the track propagating through the ground to the houses nearby for prediction of future noise and vibrations in the dwellings.