Ground vibration boom Ground vibration boom Ground vibration boom is a phenomenon of very large increase in ground vibrations generated by high-speed railway trains travelling at speeds higher than the velocity of Rayleigh surface waves in the supporting ground. This phenomenon, which is similar to a sonic boom from supersonic aircraft, was theoretically predicted in 1994. Its first experimental observation took place in 1997-1998 on the newly built high-speed railway line in Sweden (from Gothenburg to Malmo) for high-speed trains X 2000. At some locations along this line characterised by very soft ground (near Ledsgard) the Rayleigh wave velocity was as low as
Periodic travelling wave wave speeds. For partial differential equations, periodic travelling waves typically occur for a continuous range of wave speeds. An important question is whether a periodic travelling wave is stable or unstable as a solution of the original mathematical system. For partial differential equations, it is typical that the wave family subdivides into stable and unstable parts. For unstable periodic travelling waves, an important subsidiary question is whether they are absolutely or convectively unstable, meaning that there are or are not stationary growing linear modes. This issue has only been resolved for a few partial differential equations. A number of mechanisms