With the increase of freight traffic, its environmental vibration effects on sensitive receivers along railways cannot be neglected. Pile barriers are considered to be an effective abatement measure to control ground-borne vibration induced by train. In the present paper, the mitigation measure of pile barriers adopted in the transmission path for freight train-induced ground-borne vibration are investigated. The periodic theory of solid-state physics is introduced to study the reduction characteristics of periodic pile barriers. The goal of vibration isolation for a certain target frequency rang can be accomplished by the method. In consideration of the fact that the peak frequency of ambient vibration induced by freight train appears at 55Hz and the significant frequency range is between 45 and 63Hz, a representative structure of periodic piles is proposed whose calculated bandgap (from 42Hz to 63Hz) covers the significant frequency range of the ambient vibration induced by freight train. A three-dimensional finite element model with vibration isolation measurement of periodic piles is established and a model with non-vibration isolation is also studied for comparison purpose in order to calculate the vibration reduction effects of periodic pile barriers. The dynamic loads acting on the fasteners are obtained by the coupled train-track model based on the periodic-infinite structure theory. The amplitude reduction factor (ARF) of vibration acceleration is used for describing the vibration attenuation level. The research results show that the amplitude of the vibration attenuates significantly in the calculated bandgap, thus validating the method used to calculate bandgap of a soil-periodic piles system solving the problem of ambient vibration induced by freight train.
