Geotechnical properties of ballast and the role of geosynthetics in rail track stabilisation

B. Indraratna, University of Wollongong
H. Khabbaz, University of Wollongong
W. Salim, University of Wollongong
D. Christie, RailCorp, Australia

Article comments

This article was originally published as Indraratna, B, Khabbaz, H, Salim, W and Christie, D, Geotechnical Properties of Ballast and the Role of Geosynthetics, Journal of Ground Improvement, 10(3), 2006, 91-102.

Abstract

The ballast and its engineering behaviour have a key role in governing the stability and performance of railway tracks. The deformation and degradation behaviour of ballast under static and dynamic loads was studied based on large-scale triaxial testing. The possible use of different types of geosynthetics to improve the performance of fresh and recycled ballast was also investigated. The research findings showed that the inclusion of geosynthetics improves the performance of ballasted tracks.