Prediction of ground vibrations generated by a falling - weight pavement breaker

Pavement breaking generates a high level of ground vibration that is potentially damaging to nearby buildings and infrastructures. In this paper, a numerical model for the estimation of the impact load due the blow of a falling-weight pavement breaker is first developed. The estimated impact load is in good agreement with the experimental result. Next, the fracturing of the concrete road is investigated and the amount of dissipated energy is found to be only a small fraction of the impact energy. The large part of the impact energy is transferred to the soil and causes ground vibrations. Finally, a non-linear road-soil interaction model is developed and numerically verified. The model accounts for both road-soil separation as well as the inelastic behaviour of the soil. The model is used to predict ground vibrations generated by the operation of a multi-head pavement breaker. Up to 25m from the road, the predicted ground vibrations agree with the experimental results while at large distances the model underestimates the response. Keywords—pavement breaking, ground vibration, fallingweight impact, non-linear road-soil interaction