Building vibration to traffic-induced ground motion

Due to rapid urbanization, more tall buildings are constructed closer to bu sy roadways than they used to be. Reports of vibrations felt by occupants o f building structures caused by moving vehicles have been filed more freque ntly in metropolitan cities around the world. In this paper, traffic-induce d ground vibrations measured at four soil sites are presented first. Their characteristics in terms of the site conditions and distance to road center are discussed. Responses of five hypothetical reinforced concrete structur es subjected to field measured ground motions caused by normal traffic cond itions are analyzed. Results are compared with various specifications of al lowable vibration levels. Effects of traffic-induced ground motions on the safety of building structures adjacent to busy roadways, on human and on no rmal operation of sensitive equipment housed in those buildings are discuss ed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.