Blind source separation of traffic-induced vibrations in building monitoring

The paper presents an approach able to separate the vibrations induced by underground traffic from the vibrations induced by other sources, based on Second Order Blind Identification (SOBI) algorithm. The signals recorded in different locations of an instrumented building are mixed signals from different internal and external vibration sources. The blind source separation algorithm will estimate the independent vibration sources, as well as the mixing model of them. This model can be used to determine the contribution of each source in different measurement points, to evaluate the effect of vibration sources and their potential for building damage. The approach has been tested in simulation and on a building subject to different traffic forms.