Prediction of groundborne vibration from vibrating rollers

The increasing size and power of modern construction plant and its potential to cause damage or disturbance, coupled with a growing requirement for assessment of environmental impacts of construction works, have led to a need for reliable ground vibration prediction. While there is a growing need to minimise the adverse effects of construction works, over-conservative restrictions on vibration may lead to significant and unnecessary cost increases. A programme of research has been undertaken to provide data and advice by which objections to schemes may be judged and a means of assessing the environmental impact of vibration from construction works. This paper focuses on one aspect of this research: ground vibration caused by vibrating rollers. A literature review revealed little published work relating to vibration from vibratory compaction. Extensive data were therefore acquired from construction sites including a range of roller types, topographies, fill types and soil types. In addition, a controlled trial of vibration from a range of vibrating rollers operated on a specially constructed test bed was undertaken. An empirical model was developed, based on readily available information, to predict the peak particle velocity at distances of up to 100 m from the source. The predictor was derived largely from the controlled trial data and has been validated by fitting to the data from construction sites.