Approach

The basic concept for ground vibration in SILVARSTAR is to develop a frequency-based hybrid prediction tool, following the general framework recommended in ISO 14837-1:2005 that expresses the vibration level in a building during a train passage as the product of source, propagation and receiver terms. The reason for using a hybrid approach, combining experimental data with numerical predictions, is that a purely experimental approach is constrained to the cases that have been measured, whereas a purely numerical approach, such as finite element and boundary element modelling, generally involves excessive computation times. The SILVARSTAR hybrid approach is much more flexible and practical. 




The SILVARSTAR approach for auralisation is based on previous work and experience:

  • An Auralisation model was developed in projects TAURA (2014-16) and S2R DESTINATE (2016-18) by Empa
  • Expertise railway noise modelling is provided by partner ISVR

An evaluation of Auralisation and Visualisation demonstrations was made by Empa by means of an expert survey. 


Based on such background, specific requirements have been identified at system design level:
  • Support for different reproduction systems (e.g. VR headset, auditory laboratory)
  • Linking of auralisation and visualisation interfaces
  • Computational effort
  • User-friendliness
  • Plausibility of simulation
  • Flexibility in scenarios through presentation of different
    o  Vehicle classes and operational conditions,
    o  Track types
    o  Propagation situations
    o  Observer locations
    o  Environments