Asphalt Concrete Layer to Support Track Slab of High-Speed Railway

Abstract

Asphalt concrete (AC) is a traditional material that is used to construct highway pavement and offers the advantages of good bearing capacity, waterproofing, shock absorption, and noise reduction. In recent years, AC also has been used to construct railway infrastructure as part of the rapid development of high-speed rail in China. The study presented in this paper focused on the material composition and mechanical response of railway asphalt concrete (RAC) on the basis of mechanistic models and laboratory experiments. According to the material test results, the air voids of the material RAC-25 used for railway infrastructure should be controlled from 1% to 3%. The optimal asphalt content should be obtained from parameter tests. The recommended asphalt content should be less than 5.8%. Load-bearing infrastructure with the use of RAC-25 to replace partially the surface layer of subgrade, which was a stabilized layer on top of the subgrade, may yield a better performance. This design was No. 1 asphalt concrete railway substructure (ACRS-1). On the basis of the test results, the model with a 12-cm depth of graded gravel subgrade surface layer replaced by RAC-25 showed much better capacity and stability than other models. By comparison, the model reinforced by RAC-25 showed a higher K₃₀ value, less deformation, good temperature sensitivity, and better loading performance. In summary, the ACRS-1 reinforced by RAC-25 was found to be a suitable type of structure for high-speed railway infrastructure.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Read

, Whiteoak

, and Hunter

Shell Bitumen Handbook, 5th ed. ICE Publishing, London, 2003.

Talbot

A. N.

Second Progress Report of the Special Committee to Report on Stress in Railroad Tracks. Proceedings of the American Railway Engineering Association, 1919, pp. 297–453.

Japanese National Railway Institute. Geotechnical Structure Design Standards and Commentary (in Japanese). China Railway Press, Beijing, 1982.

Ren

, Freudenstein

, Yang

, and Liu

Structural Features and Application of German GETRAC Ballastless Track. Chinese Railway, Vol. 4, 2008, pp. 68–71.

Lechner

Ballastless Tracks on Asphalt Pavements Design and Experiences in Germany. Proc., 7th International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields, Trondheim, Norway, 2005, pp. 5–20.

Rose

, and Anderson

Long-Term Performance of Asphalt Under-layment Trackbeds for Special Trackbed Applications. American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association. Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, Louisville, Ky., 2006.

Rose

J. G.

, Brown

E. R.

, and Osborne

M. L.

Asphalt Trackbed Technology Development: The First 20 Years. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1713, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 1–9.

Teixeira

, and Lopez-Pita

Viability of Using Bituminous Subballast Layer on High-Speed Ballasted Tracks. Proc., 7th International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields, Trond-heim, Norway, 2005, pp. 27–29.

Iwnicki

Future Trends in Railway Engineering. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2009, pp. 2743–2750.

10.

Robinet

, and Cuccaroni

Subballast Layer Made of Bituminous Material. Proc., 7th World Congress on High-Speed Rail, China Railway Press, Beijing, 2010, pp. 727–730.

11.

Huurman

, Markine

V. L.

, and de Man

A. P.

Design Calculations for Embedded Rail in Asphalt. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1825, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp. 28–37.

12.

, and Liu

The New Asphalt Track Bed Used for Railway Infrastructure. Railway Engineering, Vol. 1, 1980, pp. 4–9.

13.

Huang

, and Zhongzheng

Railway Application and Development of Asphalt Track Bed. Journal of Railway Engineering Society, Vol. 3, 1991, pp. 132–140.

14.

Liu

Discussion of High-Speed Railway Infrastructure Types and Reinforced Foundations. Railway Standard Design, Vol. 5, 1994, pp. 7–11.

15.

Qiu

, Fang

, Zhang

, and Wei

Dynamic Analysis of Structural Adaptivity of Ballastless Track Substructure of High-Speed Railway. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, Vol. 46, No. 2, 2011, pp. 183–188.

16.

Qou

, and Wei

Mixing Design and Application of Impermeable Asphalt Mixture in Subgrade Surface Layer of Ballastless Railway Track Substructure. Journal of the China Railway Society, Vol. 30, No. 5, 2008, pp. 85–91.