The use of laboratory testing in the characterisation of embankment clay fill from the UK rail network.

Taylor, G., Tan, R., O'Brien, A.S., Smethurst, J. A., Watson, G.V.R., Lane, J.S. and Evans, E. (2015) The use of laboratory testing in the characterisation of embankment clay fill from the UK rail network. XVI ECSMGE Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development, , Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 13 - 17 Sep 2015. pp. 527-532 . (doi:10.1680/ecsmge.60678).

Abstract

Most railway embankments in the UK were built in the Victorian era and are of end-tipped construction using materials (usually cohesive) excavated from adjacent cuttings, resulting in a clod-and-matrix structure. Historically there has been a lack in understanding of the mechanical behaviour of such railway embankments. In the next decade railway traffic in the UK, particularly freight, is forecast to grow considerably. Consequently there is a need to improve the understanding of how increases in rail traffic loading may influence the
mechanical behaviour of railway embankments and thus track performance. The Rail Safety Standards Board in conjunction with Network Rail is currently undertaking a programme of applied research into this topic. As part of these studies a programme of laboratory element tests has been carried out on samples of embankment clay fill; the stress-strain characteristics of the embankment clay fill, particularly its non-linear characteristics at small strain, are important factors governing railway embankment deformation. The main objective of the element testing was to measure the accumulation of irrecoverable plastic strain in the clay fill specimens and thus aid the understanding of
railway embankment behaviour when subject to repeated traffic loading. Samples of intact material were recovered from an existing railway embankment; samples were also recovered from a model test embankment constructed as part of a complementary programme of physical model testing. The embankment clay fill sampled was of a medium to high plasticity, representative of embankments on the UK railway network. This paper summarises the laboratory element test programme and the conclusions drawn.

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Contributors

Author: J. A. Smethurst

Author: G.V.R. Watson

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