Experimental and numerical investigation of vibrations in over-track scale model buildings

Over-track buildings have been recently designed and constructed in response to land shortages in modern cities. However, train-induced vibrations in over-track buildings have caused great concern among the building residents. In this paper, a laboratory vibration test of over-track scale model buildings was conducted to investigate the vibration transmission characteristics and mitigation measures. Peak acceleration of the floor slabs and girders in 9 models with different dimensions were measured, and the corresponding frequency spectra were compared. The influence of varying thicknesses of floor slabs and columns on vibration propagation was investigated. Besides, a vibration mitigation measure was developed and applied in the experiment, resulting in a reduction of vibrations by approximately 4–5 dB, particularly mitigating horizontally transmitted bending waves. Finally, two additional six-story and eight-story models were built using the finite element method to investigate the universal transmission characteristics in over-track buildings. This study provides valuable insights into the vibration transmission characteristics and mitigation strategy of over-track buildings and is of great value for vibration control.