Effect of Polyurethane Content on the Performance of Ballasts under Static and Cyclic Loading
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 10
Abstract
The effect of polyurethane content on the behavior of ballast was assessed based on large-scale direct shear and cyclic loading tests. The large-scale direct shear tests were performed at normal stresses () of 40 to 120 kPa at a shearing rate () of , while cyclic tests were performed at loading frequencies () of 16 to 32 Hz. The direct shear test results indicated that the increase in polyurethane content from 1.5% to 3.75% by weight of ballast has significantly improved the shear strength of ballast. However, the increment in shear strength is found to be insignificant for polyurethane contents greater than 2.25%, thus indicating 2.25% to be optimum for the stabilization of ballast. Further, the cyclic load tests were performed on unstabilized ballast and ballast stabilized with 2.25% polyurethane (). The test results indicated that has exhibited significantly reduced extent of vertical and lateral deformations, and had shown enhanced resilient modulus and damping ratio in comparison to unstabilized ballast (USB). Further, the vertical settlement of at 2 million load cycles was observed to be less than the settlement of USB at 250,000 load cycles, which implies that the stabilized ballast continues to perform effectively even after higher load cycles.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 11, 2023
Accepted: Feb 23, 2024
Published online: Jul 18, 2024
Published in print: Oct 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Dec 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Continuum mechanics
- Cyclic loads
- Dynamic loads
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Infrastructure
- Laboratory tests
- Load tests
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Polymer
- Polyurethane
- Rail transportation
- Railroad ballast
- Railroad tracks
- Shear strength
- Shear tests
- Solid mechanics
- Strength of materials
- Structural dynamics
- Structural engineering
- Synthetic materials
- Tests (by type)
- Transportation engineering
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