• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.256-261
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• 2011

Recently a limited section of trackbed with ballast at KTX railway were reported to have settled down and led to problems such as reduced speed and passenger discomfort. Therefore, an urgent remedy for the settled trackbed is required to recover normal operation of KTX trains. In this paper, a new technique is proposed to visualize the elastic modulus of cross sections at railway trackbeds under ballast for practical identification of potential settlement. The proposed technique is based on ICSW technique, enabling use of impact source and overcoming inherent limitations of CSW method. To verify validity and feasibility of the proposed method, the method was employed to construct cross-sectional images of elastic modulus of two railway trackbeds and compared with other tests such as SASW, PBT, DCP and portable FWD tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2013

Based on Korean railway design standards, the thicknesses of the reinforced roadbeds of conventional and high speed railways are different, and so too, for the size distribution of the ballast particles. Accordingly, considerable cost would be required to increase operating speeds of conventional lines, in particular related to changing from a ballasted track system to a ballastless one. In this study, applicability of a roadbed which supports conventional ballasted track, for use as a ballastless track for a high speed rail line was examined. A reinforced roadbed for a conventional railway is 20cm thick, and the type of material used for a conventional reinforced roadbed is M-40 (crushed gravel for road embankments). A dynamics test was conducted to evaluate the occurrence of the permanent settlement of the track substructure. These results suggest that, without changes to the track substructure, an operational speed of 400km/h is feasible with a ballastless track. This result; however, is from laboratory experiments. Further studies, such as numerical analyses or field validation, are required.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.623-630
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• 2012

Formation used as trackbed foundation for providing vertical bearing capacity onto rail foundation are composed of crushed stones usually with certain type of grain size distribution. Permanent deformation in trackbed foundation can be generated by increasing number of load repetition due to train traffic increases, causing track irregularity. In this study, a specially prepared trackbed foundation materials (M-40) used in Korea has been tested using a large repetitive triaxial compression apparatus in order to understand resilient and permanent deformation characteristics of the material. From these test results, resilient and permanent deformation characteristic are analyzed so that a permanent deformation model is developed which can consider number of load repetition N, confining stress (${\sigma}_3$), shear stress ratio(${\tau}/{\tau}_f$) and stiffness of the material.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.334-341
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• 2008

Ballast track needs maintenance works because it is supported by the compressible trackbed and subgrade layers. Maintenance works are essential to secure riding comfort and extend the life cycle of it. The necessities of maintenance works are determined from track irregularities measured by EM120. Track irregularities is the results of the track deformation. Therefore, it is natural to evaluate the cause of it. This paper focuses on the points the track irregularities come from the trackbed and the subgrade. Nondestructive techniques, such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Portable Falling Weight Deflectometer (PFWD) are applied to evaluate the trackbed conditions, ballast layer thickness and vertical track stiffness, in the test section 500m long of Gyungbu line. The trackbed investigation results are compared with the track irregularities measured by EM120 and maintenance works. Conclusively, it was found that some maintenance works were unnecessary on the test section.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.11-20
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• 2014

The behaviors and stability of reinforced subgrade with short geogrid were examined and evaluated during construction. First of all, analytical approach for the minimum length of geogrid was performed to guarantee stability during construction loading state. Secondly, the economic aspects for reinforced subgrade were compared with between domestic standards applying with 0.7 H reinforcement length and new way to mix short and long reinforcement. Full scale railroad subgrade was constructed with the size of 5 m high, 6m wide, and 20m long to verify the stability of the subgrade with the length of 0.3 H, 0.35 H, 0.4 H reinforcement. Total 51 sensors were installed to measure settlement, bulging, and the change of stress of the subgrade. It is concluded that the reinforced subgrade with short(0.35H, 35% of height) geogrid had stability within allowable level of deformation and stress increment during construction.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.604-609
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• 2016

This study evaluated the long-term performance of RSR (Reinforced Subgrade for Railways) technology which increases the railway line capacity without the need for additional land. Its characteristics include the use of a short reinforcement with rigid wall, which make it possible to apply it in confined spaces. The 7m high and 40m long testbed employed to evaluate the long-term performance was designed and constructed near Jupo station on the Chang-hang line. This line, located close to a local bus route, had collapsed at the subgrade following heavy rainfall. The performance of the new type of subgrade was verified with long term measurements over a 2 year period including the surface and ground settlement, horizontal displacement of the wall, tensile strain of the reinforcement, and settlement of the rail top on the side track. Based on the results of the measurements made until now, we concluded that it had sufficient safety and serviceability for use as a railway subgrade. It is expected that RSR technology could be frequently used at sites which lack the necessary construction materials for an embankment and are located close to functional railway lines and boundaries, in order to settle civil complaints.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.204-212
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• 2016

The soils used as trackbed in Korea are selected using USCS utilizing basic soil properties such as Grain Size Distribution(GSD), % passing of #200 sieve ($P_{200}$), % passing of #4 sieve ($P_4$), Coefficient of uniformity ($C_u$), and Coefficient of curvature ($C_c$). Degree of compaction of the soils adapted in the code by KR should be evaluated by maximum dry density (${\gamma}_{d-max}$) and deformation modulus $E_{v2}$. The most important influencing factor that is critical to stability and deformation of the compacted soils used as trackbed is stiffness. Thus, it is necessary to construct a correlation between the modulus and the basic soil properties of trackbed soil in order to redefine a new soil classification system adaptable only to railway construction. To construct the relationship, basic soil test data is collected as a database, including GSD, maximum dry unit weight (${\gamma}_{d-max}$), OMC, $P_{200}$, $P_4$, $C_u$, $C_c$, etc.; deformation modulus $E_{v2}$ and $E_{vd}$ are obtained independently by performing a Repeated Plated Bearing Test (RPBT) and Light Weight Deflectometer Test (LWDT) for ten different railway construction sites. A linear regression analysis is performed using SPSS to obtain the relationship between the basic soil properties and the deformation modulus $E_{v2}$ and $E_v$. Based on the constructed relationship and the various obtained mechanical test data, a new soil classification system will be proposed later as a guideline for the design and construction of trackbed foundation in Korea.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6D
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• pp.905-913
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• 2008

Recently, concrete tracks are introduced into high-speed railroads as an alternative to ballast tracks. Concrete tracks are superior to ballast tracks in the aspect of durability, maintenance and safety. However, deteriorated stiffness of railroad bed and settlement of soft ground induced by trapped or seepage water lead to problems in safety of train operation. In this research, flexural rigidity of concrete tracks was employed as an index of track displacement and a new seismic technique called FRACTAL (Flexural-Rigidity Assessment of Concrete Tracks by Antisymmetric Lamb Waves) method was proposed to delineate flexural rigidity of concrete tracks in a 2-D image. In this paper, to establish theoretical background, parametric research was performed using numerical simulations of stress-wave tests at concrete tracks. Feasibility of the FRACTAL technique was proved at a real concrete track for Korean high-speed trains. Validity of the FRACTAL technique was also verified by comparing the results of impulse-response tests performed at the same measurement array and the results of DC resistivity survey performed at a shoulder nearby the track.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.64-75
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• 2017

The role of a track subgrade is to provide bearing capacity and distribute load transferred to lower foundation soils. Track subgrade soils are usually compacted by heavy mechanical machines in the field, such that sometimes they are attributed to progressive residual settlement during the service after construction completion of the railway track. The progressive residual settlement generated in the upper part of a track subgrade is mostly non-recoverable plastic deformation, which causes unstable conditions such as track irregularity. Nonetheless, up to now no design code for allowable residual settlement of subgrade in a railway trackbed has been proposed based on mechanical testing, such as repetitive triaxial testing. At this time, to check the DOC or stiffness of the soil, field test criteria for compacted track subgrade are composed of data from RPBT and field compaction testing. However, the field test criteria do not provide critical design values obtained from mechanical test results that can offer correct information about allowable permanent deformation. In this study, a test procedure is proposed for permanent deformation of compacted subgrade soil that is used usually in railway trackbed in the laboratory using repetitive triaxial testing. To develop the test procedure, an FEA was performed to obtain the shear stress ratio (${\tau}/{\tau}_f$) and the confining stress (${\sigma}_3$) on the top of the subgrade. Comprehensive repetitive triaxial tests were performed using the proposed test procedure on several field subgrade soils obtained in construction sites of railway trackbeds. A permanent deformation model was proposed using the test results for the railway track.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2009

The track structure of Gyungbu High Speed Railway line from Daegu to Busan is concrete track. It has a very strict specification for residual settlement because of its rigid type structural characteristics. The residual settlement of it comes from the residual settlement of the subgrade and the ground. The residual settlement of railway subgrade composed of crushed rock and soil might be major parts of total residual settlement depending on the field compaction qualities. Therefore, it is a key to minimize the residual settlement of the subgrade for a successful concrete track construction. In this paper, total 31 large scale compaction tests were performed to understand the compaction behaviors of the crushed rock-soil mixture. The test specimens were constituted with soil, crushed shale and mudstone taken from two sites under construction. The compaction tests were performed with the variations of rock types, #4 sieve passing contents, maximum particle size, and moisture contents. The influence of those factors on maximum dry unit weights of crushed rock-soil mixture was evaluated.