Analysis of ground-borne vibrations due to piling operations and risk zonation

Abstract

Due to paucity of land for construction and the highest valuableness of lands in urban areas, construction activities are broadly carried out neighboring to existing buildings. Pile driving is the most common foundation technique used to transfer the load ol a building or a structure to the hard layer of soil or rock. These activities am source of ground vibrations affecting human life as well as existing buildings or structures. Ground-borne vibration and noise levels have been monitored at a pre-cast piling site closer to the Thermal Power Station at Kerawalapitiya using a blast vibration monitoring instruments in this study. The main objective of this research is to produce the risk zonation to the surrounding humans, buildings and infrastructures from the pile driving location. Nuisance to human and comfort level of workers are analysed as per British and ISO standards respectively, and possible damages to existing buildings and structures are discussed according to Swedish and Indian Standards, in this study.