Static and Cyclic Triaxial Testing of Ballast and Subballast
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 6
Abstract
This paper discusses the triaxial testing of a ballast material and a subballast material, which are noncohesive, granular materials typically used for construction of a railway track substructure. Both static and cyclic triaxial tests were conducted. The cyclic triaxial tests simulated the behavior of these railway substructure materials under a large number of passing train wheels. The purpose of the static tests was to a priori identify the maximum stress level that could be applied in the cyclic tests, and to assess the strength and stiffness increase produced during the cyclic loading process. In order to accurately monitor the circumferential displacement during the static and cyclic tests, a new measuring device was developed. The experimental setup, the test procedure, and the test results are treated for the ballast and subballast materials. It is found that under cyclic loading the granular materials reveal a strong tendency to compact, even if the applied stress level is close to the static failure strength of the material. This compaction behavior generally causes a (significant) increase of the material strength and stiffness.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Alva-Hurtado, J. E.D. (1980). “A methodology to predict the elastic and inelastic behavior of railroad ballast.” Dissertation, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Anderson, W. F., and Key, A. J. (2000). “Model testing of two-layer railway track ballast.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 126(4), 317–323.
AREMA. (2002). “Sect. 2.4.4, Gradations.” Manual for railway engineering.
Brown, S. F. (1974). “Repeated load testing of a granular material.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 100(7), 825–841.
Esveld, C. (1989). Modern railway track, MRT Productions, Germany.
Frenkel, R. (2000). “Radial strain measurement device for triaxial testing.” MS thesis, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Galjaard, P. J., Paute, J. L., and Dawson, A. R. (1996). “Comparison and performance of repeated load triaxial test equipment for unbound granular materials.” Flexible pavements, A. Gomes Correia, ed., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Hjortnaes-Pedersen, A., and Molenkamp, F. (1982). “Accuracy and reproducibility of triaxial tests.” In P. A. Vermeer, and H. J. Luger, eds., Deformation and failure of granular materials, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 391–401.
Indraratna, B., Ionescu, D., and Christie, H. D. (1998). “Shear behavior of railway ballast based on large-scale triaxial tests.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 124(5), 439–449.
Lambe, T. W., and Whitman, R. V. (1969). Soil mechanics, Wiley, New York.
Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B. (1967). “Drained strength characteristics of sands.” J. Soil Mech. Found. Div., 93, 117–141.
Raymond, G. P., and Davies, J. R. (1978). “Triaxial tests on dolomite railroad ballast.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng. 104(6), 737–751.
Selig, E. T., and Waters, J. M. (1994). Track geotechnology and substructure management., Thomas Telford, London.
Selig, E. T., Yoo, T. S., Adegoke, C. W., and Stewart, H. E. (1981). “Status report-Ballast experiments, Intermediate (175 mgt), Substructure stress and strain data.” Tech. Rep. FAST/TTC/TM-81/03, Univ. of Massachusetts, for U.S. DOT Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge, Mass.
Stewart, H. E. (1982). “The prediction of track performance under dynamic traffic loading.” Dissertation, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Suiker, A. S. J. (1999). “Static and cyclic loading experiments on non-cohesive granular materials.” Tech. Rep. 1-99-DUT-1, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
Suiker, A. S. J. (2002). “The mechanical behaviour of ballasted railway tracks.” Dissertation, Delft Univ. of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. pdf-format available at http://www.library.tudelft.nl/dissertations/
Suiker, A. S. J., and de Borst, R. (2003). “A numerical model for the cyclic deterioration of railway tracks.” Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 57, 441–470.
van der Giessen, E., and de Borst, R. (1998). “Introduction to material instabilities in solids.” Material instabilities in solids, R. de Borst, and E. van der Giessen, eds., Wiley, Chichester.
Vardoulakis, I., and Sulem, J. (1995). Bifurcation analysis in geomechanics, Blackie, London.
Wood, D. M. (1990). Soil behaviour and critical state soil mechanics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 6 • June 2005
Pages: 771 - 782
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 20, 2002
Accepted: Nov 1, 2004
Published online: Jun 1, 2005
Published in print: Jun 2005
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.