ABSTRACT
Environmental vibrations are a well-known problem that can cause annoyance and even have negative health effects to the exposed population. Using surrogate models for the estimation of vibrations is an attractive alternative to costly numerical modelling or on-site measurements. They can provide almost instantaneous results, which are needed for the early design phases of a construction project. In this paper, a surrogate model is developed for the response of a simplified building structure coupled to the underlying soil. To obtain the data needed to fit the surrogate model, a numerical approach is used. In it, the structure is modelled using finite elements, while the soil is modelled using a semi-analytical approach based on the Green’s function. The surrogate models are created to estimate the changes to the vibration level from the changes in the building internal structure, e.g. spacing between the columns, floor height and building footprint.
