Behaviour of clay-fouled ballast under cyclic loading

Abstract

Expansion of the rail network in congested coastal Australia compels track construction on soft clayey subgrade, including fine-grained estuarine soils. In such low-lying areas, where the water table is close to the ground surface, the saturated soft subgrade is often subjected to pumping (mud slurry) under the application of cyclic wheel loads, thereby causing fouling of the overlying ballast. This technical note presents the results of a series of large-scale, drained, cyclic, triaxial tests conducted on clay-fouled ballast. The impact of fouling on the stress–strain behaviour, resilient modulus and degradation of ballast is discussed.