Geogrid Reinforcement for Stiffness Improvement of Railway Track Formation Over Clay Subgrade
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Volume 21, Issue 9
Abstract
Weak subgrade condition generally develops large settlements in ballasted tracks, leading to adverse performance. To ameliorate such problems, a commonly adopted technique is to provide a thick cushion of granular subballast/blanket over the subgrade. Owing to scarcity of natural resources, this is often a costly proposition. In the present study, application of geogrid reinforcement for possible reduction of the subballast thickness has been explored through large model plate load tests. The investigations include both single and multiple layers of reinforcement in the subballast. With geogrid reinforcement, stiffness and resiliency of track beds were found to have increased markedly. Optimum depth of single-layer geogrid in the subballast giving maximum performance improvement was about 0.33 times the loading diameter. The corresponding improvement in stiffness of the track bed was about 77%. With multiple layers of geogrid in the subballast, the improvement in stiffness was as high as 99%. It is observed that with just one layer of geogrid in the subballast, its thickness can be reduced by 33% (i.e., from 600 to 400 mm).
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Data Availability Statement
Most of the data used during the present study are included in the article. Few data not reported herein (i.e., reloading surface deformation responses), are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The financial support for this work from HMBS Textiles Pvt. Ltd., Delhi (IIT/SRIC/CE/MRRT/2013-2014/40) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to Prof. K. S. Reddy and Prof. B. B. Pandey (deceased) for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- Al
- area of hysteresis loop (MN/m2-mm);
- a
- radius of loading plate (mm);
- b
- width of reinforcement (mm);
- CBRsb
- California bearing ratio of subballast (%);
- CBRsg
- California bearing ratio of subgrade soil (%);
- CBRss
- California bearing ratio of subsoil (%);
- Cc
- coefficient of curvature;
- Cu
- coefficient of uniformity;
- csg
- cohesion of subgrade soil (kPa);
- css
- cohesion of subsoil (kPa);
- D
- diameter of loading plate (mm);
- Ev1
- vertical strain modulus under loading (MPa);
- Ev2
- vertical strain modulus under reloading (MPa);
- Evr
- modulus of the reinforced track bed (MPa);
- Evu
- modulus of the unreinforced track bed (MPa);
- hsb
- thickness of subballast (mm);
- hsg
- thickness of subgrade (mm);
- hss
- thickness of subsoil (mm);
- MDD
- maximum dry density (kN/m3);
- N
- number of reinforcement layers;
- OMC
- optimum moisture content (%);
- P
- load applied (kN);
- PIM1
- Percentage Improvement in Modulus Ev1 (%);
- PIM2
- Percentage Improvement in Modulus Ev2 (%);
- p(r)
- contact pressure at distance r (kN/m2);
- p
- average bearing pressure (kN/m2);
- s
- settlement (mm);
- u
- depth to top reinforcement layer (mm);
- x
- horizontal distance from center of loading plate (mm);
- Δh
- spacing between reinforcement layers (mm);
- ϕsb
- peak friction angle of subballast (°);
- ϕsg
- peak friction angle of subgrade (°);
- ϕss
- peak friction angle of subsoil (°);
- μ
- Poisson’s ratio;
- σz,
- vertical normal stress at depth z (kN/m2);
- σr
- radial normal stress at radial distance r (kN/m2);
- σθ
- tangential normal stress at angle θ (kN/m2); and
- ψsb
- peak dilation angle of subballast (°).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 9 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 30, 2020
Accepted: May 1, 2021
Published online: Jun 25, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 25, 2021
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