01478905

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2374-20

http://scholar.google.com...nger&publication_year=2013

Characterizing railroad ballast behavior under repeated train loading is of significant importance for evaluating field settlement or permanent deformation potentials of unbound aggregate ballast layers. For the proper characterization of ballast behavior under dynamic loading, a new triaxial test setup was recently developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Capable of accommodating cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 305 mm (12 in.) and a height of 610 mm (24 in.), this closed-loop servohydraulic test setup used a load cell and four displacement transducers mounted on the specimen to quantify deformation behavior under loading. Preliminary test results evaluating effects of different applied stress states as well as geogrid reinforcement on ballast behavior established the consistency and repeatability of this new test equipment. Laboratory findings are presented from an ongoing research study aimed at investigating the effects of different ballast types and field degradation trends on permanent deformation accumulation. The ballast type with the highest mill abrasion value was found to accumulate the highest permanent deformation under repeated load triaxial testing. Permanent deformation trends observed for four other ballast types showed direct correlations to the degrees of particle degradation observed in track sections constructed with these ballast materials and trafficked for approximately 18 months with a total track usage of 320 million gross tons.

01503754

13-4269

English

pp 169–179

2013

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309286893

Print

Figures (11) ; References (11) ; Tables (2)

Ballast (Railroads); Deformation; Degradation failures; Geogrids; Maintenance of way; Repeated loads; Triaxial shear tests

Permanent deformation

Design; Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I60: Maintenance

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:49PM

• Comparison of Capacity of Single- and Double-Track Rail Lines
• Competitiveness of High-Speed Rail: Analysis for Corridor Between Lisbon, Portugal, and Madrid, Spain, Based on Discrete Choice Models
• Development of Multicriteria Decision Method for Evaluating High-Speed Rail Corridor
• Development of Two-Stage Hybrid Method to Solve High-Speed Rail Train Scheduling Problem
• Dynamic Wheel Loads of High-Speed Rail at Speeds Greater Than 400 km/h
• Economic Impacts of Amtrak Intercity Passenger Rail Service in Michigan: Community-Level Analysis
• Hierarchical Decomposition Methods for Periodic Railway Timetabling Problems
• High-Speed Rail Network Design and Station Location: Model and Sensitivity Analysis
• Impact of European Railway Traffic Management System on Human Performance in Railway Operations: European Findings
• Impacts of Short-Term Land Use by High-Speed Rail on Large Metropolises: Case Study of Madrid, Spain
• Investigation of Aggregate Properties Influencing Railroad Ballast Performance
• Measuring Rail Seat Pressure Distribution in Concrete Crossties: Experiments with Matrix-Based Tactile Surface Sensors
• Modeling Rail Operating Costs for Multimodal Corridor Planning
• Predicting Potential Railway Operational Disruptions with Echo State Networks
• Safety Effectiveness of Integrated Risk Reduction Strategies for Rail Transport of Hazardous Materials
• Simulating Ballast Shear Strength from Large-Scale Triaxial Tests: Discrete Element Method
• Simulation-Based Rail Transit Optimization Model
• System for In Situ Measurement of Neutral Temperature in Continuous-Welded Rail: Results from Laboratory and Field Tests
• Track Stiffness Transition Zone Studied with Three-Dimensional Sandwich Track Model
• Ultrasonic Tomography for Three-Dimensional Imaging of Internal Rail Flaws: Proof-of-Principle Numerical Simulations
• Use of Recycled Tire Rubber to Modify Track–Substructure Interaction