Georges Kouroussis

• M.Eng., PhD
• Full Professor at University of Mons

The effects of surrounding soil degradation on the performance of piles during their operational phase remain inadequatedly understood within dynamic context. This study presents an energy-based methodology for estimating the dynamic impedance of a single pile situated in radially weakened soil. To achieve this, the surrounding soil is segmented in...

A 3D train-track-tunnel-soil (TTTS) coupled dynamics model is developed in the time domain, where the spatial dynamic interactions between the subsystems can be characterized and captured. In the model, the tunnel-soil subsystem is modeled using the semi-analytic cylindrical layer elements to improve computational efficiency, while spatial track/tu...

Urban areas are increasingly subjected to vibrations from various sources within the urban environment. Therefore, there is an urgent necessity to find measures that can minimize their negative effects. This paper investigates the concept of metamaterial and analyzes the impact of its inclusion on the range and span of band-gaps at low frequencies...

Noise and vibrations generated by railway traffic can seriously affect the adjacent buildings and their residents. Different mitigation methods have been proposed in the past decades to tackle this challenge. Despite many mitigation measures presented in the literature, some of these measures have shown limitations in their application, while for o...

The development of new mitigation measures is an effective solution to the annoyance generated by the induced vibration coming from the railway traffic to the residents of urban areas. This paper aims to give a brief comparison of two novel concepts of mitigation measures applied within the transmission path presented recently in the literature. In...

This paper theoretically estimates the dynamic pile–soil interaction and the group efficiency factor for pile group in layered soil through energy‐based method. The vertical dynamic interaction of partially embedded single piles and their surrounding layered soil is analytically deduced from Hamilton's principle. Combined with a series of numerical...

The fast growth of railway transport pushed by its sustainability requires all railway stakeholders to work together to minimise any possible drawbacks that might slow down this positive trend. Among these, the induced vibrations generated at the wheel-rail interaction during train passage are the most significant, especially in urban areas where i...

The sustainability of the railway systems makes it is one of the fastest developing means of transport. Their expansion is further justified by the fact that trains can enter directly into urban areas. On the other hand, this increases vibratory annoyances in the neighbourhood, particularly in densely populated centres. This paper focuses on the T2...

The negative effects caused by the railway traffic to adjacent buildings and humans in the form of ground-borne vibration and noise is one of the weaknesses that could slow down the growth that the railway industry is experiencing due to its sustainability. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to implement mitigation measures that cancel and/or r...

Co-simulation techniques start to be of high interest when building a vehicle–track–soil model dedicated to ground-borne vibrations’ assessment. If this model includes a relatively comprehensive representation of the vehicle, track, and soil subdomains, different solvers may be used to simulate them. In this paper, the vehicle and track are modeled...

There is today ample evidence that fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) distributed along a railway track can provide robust axle counting and bring numerous assets compared to competing technologies in this practical environment. This work brings two relevant originalities with respect to the state-of-the-art solutions. First, a study of the strain distrib...

Vibration and noise aspects play a relevant role in the lifetime and comfort of urban areas and their residents. Among the different sources, the one coming from the rail transit system will play a central concern in the following years due to its sustainability. Ground-borne vibration and noise assessment as well as techniques to mitigate them bec...

This paper presents a closed-form solution on the steady dynamic response of circular piles embedded in inhomogeneous soil. The soil is modeled as a viscoelastic continuum, and the pile is modeled as a one-dimensional elastic shaft. Fictitious soil pile model and Hamilton’s energy principle are introduced to deduce the equations governing the layer...

The prediction of train-induced vibration on far-field buildings is a challenging issue in the transportation environment communities. In this work, a hybrid prediction method is put forward utilizing the idea of substructure analysis, which can high-effectively calculate the train-induced vibration under different operation conditions. Based on ve...

The paper presents an approximate solution to axial dynamic impedance calculation for group of square piles. Firstly, dynamic responses of the single pile‐soil system are derived on the basis of Hamilton's energy principle and variation analysis. Then, the effects of square cross section on the pile‐soil interaction are examined through the combina...

During the last decades, rail traffic has been subjected to considerable attention and criticism regarding vibrations. Nowadays it is becoming increasingly common for railway networks to be built and developed in urban areas, close to buildings, and the issue of railway-inducted ground vibration in these urban areas is of significant concern to res...

The effects of sloping ground on the vertical pile-to-pile interaction for end-bearing piles embedded in a homogenous soil are investigated through three-dimensional finite element simulations. The wave propagation mechanism and pile to pile interaction factor are investigated in detail from displacement and axial force perspectives. For contrast,...

Rail transit and highway transportation have flourished in the process of urbanization by virtue of their respective advantages, facilitating people’s travel but also producing harmful environmental vibrations. For an accurate analysis of source characteristics and propagation laws of train-induced vibrations, a field measurement was carried out in...

European Commission aims to achieve 50% of the land transportation covered by the railway system by 2050 because of it is sustainability. Therefore, it is essential to develop new mitigation measures to attenuate the propagation of the vibrations, which has been to a certain extent a limitation in the railway growth. Focusing on the T2000 tram ope...

The adhesives used for the attachment of electronic components to space boards should withstand harsh vibrations of the space launch, which requires their characterization in fatigue. The present study investigates Ablestik 8-2 epoxy adhesive within this context. Novel adhesive test assemblies were devised, which consist of a rigid ceramic componen...

This study focuses on epoxy fiberglass (E-glass) laminates used as printed circuit boards, more particularly as flexible substrates in fracture assemblies for the test of attachments of electronic components such as solder and adhesive joints. Breaking these joints often requires large bending of E-glass substrates. Such circumstances have not been...

The aim of this paper is to discuss the effect of cosimulation on a railway vehicle/track/soil model. Firstly, only the vehicle and a flexible track are considered without taking the soil flexibility into account. Two well-known co-simulation approaches are used: a parallel approach, called Jacobi, and a sequential approach, called Gauß–Seidel. The...

Due to the always growing computing power, virtual models become nowadays a popular mean to simulate complex problems such as vehicle stability, track settlement or ground-borne vibrations induced by railway vehicles. This paper presents a co-simulation model of a vehicle passing on a track that lays on a soil. The model is split into two subsystem...

This work presents a simplified method to evaluate building shaking due to arbitrary base excitations, and an example application to railway problems. The model requires minimal computational effort and can be applied to a wide range of footing shapes, thus making it attractive for scoping-type analysis. It uses the soil excitation spectrum at the...

There is a great need to develop rail networks over long distances and within cities as more sustainable transport options. However, noise and vibration are seen as a negative environmental consequence. Compared with airborne noise, the related problem of ground vibration is much more complex. The properties of the ground vary significantly from on...

Interest in the design of products that link performance and comfort is rapidly growing in the field of sport. To this end, the equipment industry is progressively shifting towards customization and it is focusing on man-machine interaction. The notion itself remains insufficiently studied by the scientific community. With regard to golf, several w...

A new hybrid time-frequency modelling methodology is proposed to simulate the generation of railway vibration caused by singular defects (e.g. joints, switches, crossings), and its propagation through the track, soil and into nearby buildings. To create the full source-to-received model, first the force density due to wheel-rail-defect interaction...

Recent increases in urban railway track infrastructure construction are often delayed by distress to occupants caused by ground-borne vibration arising from the passing of the rail vehicle. Mitigation measures are proposed as a solution if they prove their efficiency in reducing these vibrations. In this paper, we present a practical study of dynam...

An efficient method for railway traffic monitoring is presented. It uses FBG-based accelerometer together with an optimized signal processing. Sensors can be easily installed on a sleeper, without requiring interruption of the railway operability. OCIS codes: (060.3735) Fiber Bragg gratings; (060.2370) Fiber optic sensors; (280.0280) Remote sensing...

Optimal operation, reduced energy consumption, longer service availability, and high safety level are the major concerns in today’s railway transport systems. Smart monitoring systems should address these issues without interrupting railway operability. Many successful works have been carried out to provide railway monitoring functions using fiber...

This paper investigates the modal characteristics of a 6-axis industrial robot and exploits them in order to identify its joint stiffness and damping. Having a good knowledge of the robot dynamics can turn out to be a critical asset to achieve precise motions or complex tasks. It is especially true in robotic machining which is a trendy process whe...

In recent years, the mining industry has dealt with a significant amount of criticism regarding the side effects of production blasting. In practice, explosive material is placed into a series of boreholes in a rock mass, and then detonated to fragment the rock so that it can be disposed or transported for further processing. The detonation of an e...

Despite the growing popularity of alternative transport networks, road transport remains the dominant method for transporting goods and equipment. In order to remain competitive, the allowable mass limits of heavy vehicles are regularly increasing, enabling them to distribute more products per shipment. As heavy vehicles travel over the road surfac...

Traditionally in the metal industry, after metal sheets leave the rolling mill they are sent to a punching machine to engrave tracking data on them. The punching operation can produce a significant source of noise, with measurements revealing zones with acoustic pressure levels of more than 110 dB at over twenty metres from the machine. This paper...

This work presents a fast computational approach to quantify the ground vibration generated by the passing of urban railway vehicle over localized defects (e.g. rail joint or turnout). The methodology is based on a two-step simulation where the vehicle/track/foundation and track/soil dynamics are calculated separately. The vehicle/track interaction...

Railway-induced ground vibration remains an important showstopper, especially in urban areas where significant levels of vibration are felt by residents. This paper presents a theoretical study of mitigation measures based on the use of Dynamic Vibration Absorbers (DVAs). Such devices can be tuned to a specific excitation frequency in order to redu...

Adhesive reinforcement of pad-soldered electronic components may preclude their failure under random vibration of space vehicle launch. Before usage, adhesives need in-situ fatigue characterization. This work focuses on high cycle fatigue testing on shaker using resonant specimens. Test assemblies consist of a ceramic component adhesively bonded to...

This paper is concerned with the extension of the minimal coordinates approach to flexible bodies. When using minimal coordinates, the number of configuration parameters corresponds exactly to the number of degrees of freedom and they can be chosen arbitrarily as far as there is a one-to-one relationship between the configuration of the system and...

Man-made sources of ground vibration must be carefully monitored in urban areas in order to ensure that structural damage and discomfort to residents is prevented or minimised. The research presented in this paper provides a comparative evaluation of various methods used to analyse a series of tri-axial ground vibration measurements generated by ra...

This article proposes an alternative approach to the well-known Federal Railroad Administration method to evaluate ground vibrations induced by the passing of railway vehicles. The originality lies on the excitation mechanisms that occur in urban areas. A common source of railway-induced ground vibrations is local defects (rail joints, switches, an...

Despite advancements in alternative transport networks, road transport remains the dominant mode in many modern and developing countries. The ground-borne motions produced by the passage of a heavy vehicle over a geometric obstacle (e.g. speed hump, train tracks) pose a fundamental problem in transport annoyance in urban areas. In order to predict...

Over the syears, the rapid growth in railway infrastructure has led to numerous environmental challenges. One such significant issue, particularly in urban areas, is ground-borne vibration. A common source of ground-borne vibration is caused by local defects (e.g. rail joints, switches, turnouts, etc.) that generate large amplitude excitations at i...

Timber frameworks are one of the most important and widespread types of structures. Their configurations and joints are usually complex and require a high level of craftsmanship to assemble. In the field of restoration, a good understanding of the structural behaviour is necessary and is often based on assessment techniques dedicated to wood charac...

Structural adhesives are commonly used in space electronics particularly for bonding ceramic quad flat packages to printed circuit boards (PCB). In such application, adhesive joints are subjected to high loads due to the PCB bending under severe acceleration of the launch. It is thus mandatory to figure out the adhesive mechanical resistance in ord...

Structural adhesives are commonly used in space electronics particularly for bonding ceramic quad flat packages to printed circuit boards (PCB). In such application, adhesive joints are subjected to high loads due to the PCB bending under severe acceleration of the launch. It is thus mandatory to figure out the adhesive mechanical resistance in ord...

With the development of light rail transit in urban areas, the effect of railway vibrations on buildings and people inside buildings is a growing problem. In particular, urban transit commonly generates large vibration levels at rail discontinuities, and thus this paper presents a 2-stage numericalexperimental vibration prediction methodology. The...

A common source of railway-induced ground vibrations is local defects such as rail joints, switches, and turnouts which cause large amplitude excitations at isolated locations along the track. Moreover, the distance between railway networks (tram, metro) and neighboring buildings is relatively close in urban areas. To analyze such situations, a com...

Environmental vibration and ground-borne noise from light rail transport (LRT) networks consists a major impact on the urban environment. Since experiments are often difficult to obtain and to interpret especially for environmental vibration, designers and researchers generally resource numerical model to assess vibration levels and understand the...

Railway-induced ground vibrations can cause negative effects to people/structures located in urban areas. One of the main sources of these vibrations is from the large vehicle forces generated when train wheels impact local defects (e.g. switches/crossings). The sole use of traditional in-field transfer-mobility approaches is well suited for plain-...

Nowadays, timber frameworks become one of the most widespread types of material in building constructions. Their configurations and joints are usually complex and require a high level of craftsmanship to assemble. To properly assess the behaviour of timber elements, many assessment techniques are available but they present some limitations. This pa...

The environmental effect of ground-borne vibration and noise generated by urban rail transit systems is a growing concern in urban areas. This chapter reviews, synthesizes and benchmarks new understandings related to railway vibration and associated airborne and ground-borne noise. The aim is to provide new thinking on how to predict noise and vibr...

The mining and construction industries have long been faced with considerable attention and criticism in regard to the effects of blasting. The generation of ground vibrations is one of the most significant factors associated with blasting and is becoming increasingly important as mining sites are now regularly located near urban areas. This is of...

This present paper aims to identify the main components which influence the generation and the propagation mechanisms of railway-induced ground vibrations. It is based on numerical assessments of ground vibrations on the L161 line that runs through Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. The objective is twofold. First, using data collection at a Brussel...

Ground-borne noise and vibration from railway lines can cause human distress/annoyance, and also negatively affect real estate property values. Therefore this paper analyses a collection of technical ground-borne noise and vibration reports, detailing commercial vibration assessments undertaken at 1604 railway track sections, in 9 countries across...

Nowadays automotive vehicles remain as one of the most used modes of transportation. Furthermore automatic transmissions are increasingly used to provide a better driving comfort and a potential optimization of the engine performances (by placing the gear shifts at specific engine and vehicle speeds). This paper presents an effective modeling of th...

The design of space electronic boards relies usually on empirical warp-based criteria having as main asset the coverage of a wide range of electronic components. Such versatility may yield over-design and lack of precision which can be at the expense of the payload weight. In this work, a practical design rule has been developed for electronic comp...

This paper presents the numerical prediction of ground vibration levels on embankmented high speed rail lines. First, a campaign of field tests is described, focused on the three-dimensional (3D) monitoring of ground vibration on at-grade and embankmented tracks. Next, a finite element (FE) model is developed to study the detailed earthwork geometr...

This paper analyses the implementation of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors as vibration sensors along a rail in order to obtain usable signals of sufficient interest for weigh-in-motion and axle counting. Particular attention is also paid to the advantages of these new sensors. This study was completed by numerical analysis of the stress transfer...

Structural health and operation monitoring are of growing interest in the development of railway networks. Conventional systems of infrastructure monitoring already exist (e.g. axle counters, track circuits) but present some drawbacks. Alternative solutions are therefore studied and developed. In this field, optical fiber sensors, and more particul...

With the development of new lines and the increase of traffic on existing lines, the problem caused by railway-induced ground vibrations is becoming bigger and bigger. The present paper focuses on wheel flat modelling in prediction schemes which determine railway-induced ground vibrations and which have applications to urban tramways. A comprehensi...

Due to their high mechanical and corrosion resistance, low signal attenuation, optical fiber sensors and more particularly fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have demonstrated their high potential in various sensors applications such as health monitoring of structural pieces when their are placed under constrain, vibration or temperature variation. In thi...