Numerical analysis of the shielding effect provided by periodic elastic scatterers

The search for innovative mitigation solutions that can be adopted in urban areas to efficiently reduce the effects of induced vibrations by increasing numbers of vehicles has motivated a significant number of researchers from different fields. An interesting concept seems to be the use of buried elastic inclusions, periodically arranged parallel to the ground surface, applying sonic crystal inspired technologies and bandgap filtering on adequate frequency ranges. In previous works, preliminary numerical results have shown the influence of the presence of multiple elastic heterogeneities on the attenuation of the vibration fields in receivers located on the opposite side from the traffic vibration source. Following this concept, a 2.5D numerical model has been implemented, based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) and on the use of a numerical absorbing layer. The effects on the vibration levels provided by a set of periodic elastic inclusions inserted in the host propagation medium are parametrically analysed. In fact, frequency domain results, obtained when modelling different configurations of the periodic structure and host soil, are used to assess the efficiency of these arrays as a mitigation measure.