Utilization of Coal Gangue Aggregate for Railway Roadbed Construction in Practice

Abstract

As a massive solid waste, the high value-added utilization of coal gangue has received more and more attention in China. This study focuses on the utilization of coal gangue aggregate in railway engineering for coal transportation passage. Coal gangue aggregate was employed as high-grade railway subgrade filler andprepared concrete for roadbed drainage (named coal gangue roadbed protecting concrete—CGRPC). First, the basic properties of coal gangue such as particle size distribution, ignition loss, strength change under water softening, and compression performance were measured. Then, the technology to use coal gangue as filler in railway subgrade was put forward based on a real engineering application with the Jingang coal-carrying railway special line. Field tests showed that the coal gangue roadbed had excellent performance. The dynamic stiffness expressed as K30 was more 130 MPa/m, which meets the requirement for high-speed railway roadbeds. The distribution of vertical earth pressure according to the backfill depth showed a linear growing tendency. Finally, the technical and economic benefits of using coal gangue railway roadbeds were analyzed. The application of coal gangue near the railway line not only solved the problem of aggregate shortage in engineering construction, but it also consumes the coal gangue waste and leads to huge social benefits.