Impact source localization and vibration intensity prediction on construction sites

Excessive ground-borne vibrations induced by construction activities may pose adverse effects on the surrounding environments. On-site vibration control is typically based on vibration monitoring results at a few selected locations. However, this approach cannot predict vibration intensities at locations other than the monitored points because the locations of vibration sources are usually unknown in vibration assessment processes. The localization of impact sources (e.g., impact piling) becomes a critical problem to be addressed before vibration intensities can be quantified in a broad area instead of at several discrete points. Therefore, this paper develops a two-stage impact source localization method based on wave propagation characteristics obtained in finite element analyses of an infinite half-space soil domain. The localization accuracy of this approach is validated by numerical examples and field experiments on a construction site with ongoing impact piling work. The results indicate that the plan coordinates of the impact sources can be localized with satisfactory accuracy. The variations of the measured vibration intensities along with the distance from the localized impact source are modeled by using an empirical formula. The estimated impact source locations and the obtained empirical formula can jointly extend vibration intensity assessment from the discrete monitored points to the global surrounding area.