In urban areas, there are several different sources of vibration that may cause discomfort to human beings, structural damage or impair the function of sensitive equipment, such as hospital equipment, for example. The main means used to attenuate vibratory energy is to increase the distance between the source and receivers, which has been systematically reduced by real estate speculation and invasion of the areas surrounding railways and highways. The form of vibrational energy propagation depends on the source, the type of soil and the interaction between the waves of vibration and the building structures. Existing standards establish criteria for assessing user discomfort and the structural damage of buildings. The vibration analysis parameter is the peak particle velocity, which relates to the stresses generated in the building during the vibratory process. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact generated by the main sources of vibration in the urban environment by measuring the peak particle velocity and calculating thedecrease in vibration energy as the distance increases. We evaluated highway and railway traffic, the process of concrete and steelpile driving, and the operation of an air compressed concrete breaker. The discomfort threshold was exceeded in all analyses, except for the steel pile. The structural damage threshold was surpassed by railway traffic and the process of pile driving.
Vibration; Environment; Urban densification
