A study on availability of GPR in estimating the condition of ballast

자갈도상 상태평가를 위한 GPR기법의 적용성 분석

The ballast, one of a track components, plays an essential role as intermedium in transmitting train traffic-load to subgrade safely, and deterioration of ballast caused by cumulative load effects growth of track irregularity. Especially in the case of Gyeongbu high-speed railway, the deteriorating speed of ballast by dynamic vibration is faster than conventional line because KTX is longer than normal trains in length and it's velocity is very fast with high speed of 300km/h as well. In addition, ballast is a nonlinear material contrary to ordinary metal which has homogeneous property and this property of ballast may cause transformation of ballast. Therefore the theoretical modeling of ballast is quite complicated and it is hard to ensure the reliability of the result. The objective of this paper is to examine the availability of GPR(Ground Penetrating Radar) in estimating the thickness and the degree of deterioration of ballast. First, We figured out the principle of GPR which is the technique of evaluating the condition of ballast and then analyzed data which were measured at Gyeongbu high-speed railway where KTX is running now.