Shear Behavior of Railway Ballast Based on Large-Scale Triaxial Tests
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 124, Issue 5
Abstract
Quarried rock fragments (ballast) constitute one of the most commonly used construction materials in railway engineering practice. Ballast is subjected to high stress levels as well as being always exposed to environmental changes. Unsatisfactory performance of railway tracks is often associated with the loss of cross level, track profile and track alignment. The in situ condition and the engineering behavior of ballast are also important aspects governing the stability and performance of a given railway track structure. This paper presents the findings of a series of isotropically consolidated, triaxial compression tests on two modeled fractions of uniformly graded latite basalt, which is currently being used by the Railway Services Authority (RSA) of New South Wales, Australia, in the construction of new railway tracks. These tests form part of an extended research program sponsored by RSA to study the stress-strain relationships, strength properties and degradation characteristics of various types of railway ballast. The program is associated with the necessity of upgrading railway tracks for the looming Olympics in 2000. Large-scale triaxial equipment has been employed during the testing program, which is formulated to provide specific geotechnical information on the shear strength and the angle of internal friction of ballast as a function of the particle size distribution. The effect of maximum principal stress ratio on the deformation and degradation of ballast is also studied. Nonlinear relationships are developed to describe appropriately the variation of shear strength, angle of internal friction, dilation rate and degree of particle crushing at different confining pressures and principal stress ratios.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
“Aggregates and rock for engineering purposes.” (1996). AS 2758.7-96, Standards Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
2.
Billam, J. (1971). “Some aspects of the behaviour of granular materials at high pressures.”Proc., Roscoe Mem. Symp., Whitefriars Press Ltd., London, U.K., 69–80.
3.
Bishop, W. A.(1966). “The strength of soils as engineering materials.”Géotechnique, London, U.K., 16(2), 91–129.
4.
Bishop, W. A., and Henkel, D. J. (1962). The measurement of soils properties in the triaxial test. Edward Arnold Ltd., London, U.K.
5.
Bolton, M. D.(1986). “The strength and dilatancy of sand.”Géotechnique, London, U.K., 13(1), 65–78.
6.
Charles, J. A., and Watts, K. S.(1980). “The influence of confining pressure on the shear strength of compacted rockfill.”Géotechnique, London, U.K., 30(4), 353–367.
7.
Chrismer, S. M. (1985). “Considerations of factors affecting ballast performance.”Rep. No. WP-110, Administration of American Railroads, Research and Test Department, Bulletin 704, Am. Railway Engrg. Assn.
8.
Chrismer, S. M., and Read, D. M. (1994). “Examining ballast and subgrade conditions.”Railway Track and Struct., June, 39–42.
9.
Feda, J. (1971). “The effect of grain crushing on the peak angle of internal friction of a sand.”Proc., 4th Conf. on Soil Mech., Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest, 79–93.
10.
Fukushima, S., and Tatsuoka, F.(1984). “Strength and deformation characteristics of saturated sand at extremely low pressures.”Soils and Found. Tokyo, Japan, 24(4), 30–48.
11.
Holtz, W. G., and Gibbs, H. J.(1956). “Triaxial shear tests on pervious gravely soils.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 82(1), 1–22.
12.
Horne, M. R. (1965). “The behaviour of an assembly of round, rigid cohesionless particles.”Proc., Roy. Soc., London, U.K., A286, 62–97.
13.
Hudson, S. B., and Waller, H. F. (1969). “Evaluation of construction control procedures-aggregate gradation variations and effects.”Rep. No. 69, National Co-Operative Highway Research Program.
14.
Indraratna, B.(1996). “Large-scale triaxial facility for testing non-homogeneous materials including rockfill and railway ballast.”Australian Geomechanics, Australia, 30, 125–126.
15.
Indraratna, B., Wijewardena, L. S. S., and Balasubramaniam, A. S.(1993). “Large-scale triaxial testing of greywacke rockfill.”Géotechnique, London, U.K., 43(1), 37–51.
16.
Ionescu, D., Indraratna, B., and Christie, D. (1996). “Laboratory evaluation of the behaviour of railway ballast under static and repeated loads.”Proc., 7th Australia New Zealand Conf. on Geomech., Inst. of Engrg., Adelaide, Australia, 86–91.
17.
Jeffs, T., and Marich, S. (1987). “Ballast characteristics in the laboratory.”Proc., Conf. Railway Engrg., Inst. of Engineers, Perth, Australia, 141–147.
18.
Jeffs, T., and Tew, G. P. (1991). A review of track design procedures—Sleepers and ballast, vol 2 of Railways of Australia, Melbourne, Australia.
19.
Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B.(1967). “Drained strength characteristics of sands.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 93(6), 117–141.
20.
Leps, T. M.(1970). “Review of shearing strength of rockfill.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 96(6), 1159–1170.
21.
Marachi, N. D., Chan, C. K., and Seed, H. B.(1972). “Evaluation of properties of rockfill materials.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 98, 95–114.
22.
Marsal, R. J.(1967). “Large scale testing of rockfill materials.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 93(2), 27–43.
23.
Marsal, R. J. (1973). “Mechanical properties of rockfill.”Embankment dam engineering. Wiley, New York, 109–200.
24.
Ponce, M., and Bell, J. M.(1971). “Shear strength of sand at extremely low pressures.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 97(4), 625–638.
25.
Raymond, G. P., and Davies, J. R.(1978). “Triaxial test on dolomite railroad ballast.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 104(6), 737–751.
26.
Raymond, G. P., Lake, R. W., and Boon, C. J. (1976). “Stresses and deformations in railway track.”CIGGT, Rep. No. 76-11, Canadian Inst. of Guided Ground Transport, Queen's University Press, Ontario, Canada.
27.
Rowe, P. W. (1962). “The stress-dilatancy relation for static equilibrium of an assembly of particles in contact.”Proc., Roy. Soc., London, U.K., A 269, 500–527.
28.
Schultze, E. (1961). “Elastic properties of ballast.”Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg., Dunod Publishers, Paris, France, 323–327.
29.
Selig, E. T., and Alva-Hurtado, J. E. (1981). “Permanent strain behaviour of railroad ballast.”Proc., 10th Int. Conf. Soil Mech. and Found. Engrg., Pergamon Press, New York, 543–546.
30.
Selig, E. T., and Waters, J. M. (1994). Track geotechnology and substructure management. Thomas Telford Services Ltd., London, U.K.
31.
Railway Services Authority of NSW. (1983). “Specification for supply of aggregate for ballast.”T.S. 3402–83, Way and Works Branch, State Rail Authority of NSW, Sydney, Australia.
32.
Vesic, A. S., and Clough, G. W.(1968). “Behavior of granular materials under high stresses.”J. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., ASCE, 94(3), 661–688.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: May 1, 1998
Published in print: May 1998
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.