Criteria for vibration levels from Metro Lines to comply with acceptable noise inside residential buildings

Abstract

Amongst all types of transportation means, the Metro generates high levels of vibration, which are transmitted to the structural elements of nearby buildings. The related energy reaches the foundations and the ground floor of buildings in the form of waves that excite floors and walls. By vibrating all the partitions of a room, a corresponding radiated noise field is established, thus disturbing the residents. To our knowledge, from the legislative point of view, there are no published legal limits for human comfort and criteria related to vibrations generated by railway traffic inside buildings. This work is carried out in order to establish criteria to prevent or reduce the harmful effects and discomfort of the exposure to noise due to vibration inside housing. In this study, it is mainly intended to deepen the determination of criteria to be followed in the consideration of vibrations at low frequencies propagated through the foundations and structure of residential buildings. In situ measurements and calculation methods have been carried out taking into consideration different cases in order to analyse the transmission of those generated vibrations, to the different constructive elements linked to the floors, and in this way to be able to determine the overall noise established into the room.