• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.252-260
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• 2015

Ballasted track on an asphalt roadbed can be beneficial for its various effects such as (i) decreasing of roadbed thickness by dispersing train load; (ii) prevention of both strength reduction and weakening in roadbed system by preventing rainwater penetration; and (iii) reducing maintenance cost by preventing roadbed mud-pumping and frostbite. With these beneficial effects, ballasted track on asphalt roadbed has been widely used in Europe and Japan, and relevant research for applying such ballasted track on asphalt roadbed systems in Korea is ongoing. In this study, full-scale static and dynamic train load tests were performed to compare the performance of ballasted track on asphalt roadbed and ballasted track. The optimum thickness levels of asphalt and reinforced roadbeds, corresponding to the design criteria for reinforced roadbed of high-speed railway, was estimated using the FEM program ABAQUS. Test results show that the earth pressure on reinforced roadbed of ballasted track on the asphalt roadbed was relatively low compared with that of simple ballasted track. The elastic and plastic displacements of simple ballasted track on the asphalt roadbed were also lower than those of ballasted track. These test results may indicate that the use of ballasted track on asphalt roadbed is an advantageous system in view of long-term maintenance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.241-251
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• 2015

Compared with ballasted track (BT), ballasted asphalt track (BAT) has been increasingly adopted in many countries due to its more greatly reduced reinforced roadbed thickness and smaller cumulative plastic deformation, and its advantages in terms of maintenance. In this respect, the authors' previous research includes analysis of BAT sections that show performance similar to that of BT sections of the present specifications; reliability verification of the analysis results through real-sized static and dynamic train-load tests were performed. Based on previous research, this paper estimates the track lifetime using the strain of the lower roadbed according to reinforced roadbed thickness; using probabilistic LCC analysis, this paper presents a BAT section that satisfies the design lifetime and that has performance similar to or higher than that of BT.