Assessment and prediction of underground train induced vibrations and their effects on nearby building structures in Cameroon

The aim of this paper is to assess and predict the effect of vibrations induced by an underground railway on nearby-existing buildings prior and after the projected upgrading of the railway belonging to CAMRAIL and linking the two most densely populated cities of Cameroon: Douala and Yaounde. With the source-transmitter-receiver mathematical model as the train-soil-structure interaction model, taking into account sub-model parameters such as type of the train-railway system, typical geotechnical conditions of the ground and the sensitivity of the nearby buildings, the analysis is carried out over the entire system using the dynamic finite element method in the time domain. This subdivision of the model is a powerful tool that allows to consider different alternatives of sub-models with different characteristics, and thus to determine any critical excessive vibration impact. Based on semi-empirical analytical results obtained from presented models, the present work assesses and predicts characteristics of traffic-induced vibrations as a function of time duration, intensity and vehicle speed, as well as their influence on buildings at different levels.