An Assessment of a Resilient Modulus Model by Comparing Predicted and Measured Elastic Deformation of Railway Trackbeds

철도노반의 탄성변위 예측 및 측정을 통한 회복탄성계수 모델 평가

In the mechanistic-empirical trackbed design of railways, the resilient modulus is the key input parameter. This study focused on the resilient modulus prediction model, which is the functions of mean effective principal stress and axial strain, for three types of railroad trackbed materials such as crushed stone, weathered soil, and crushed-rock soil mixture. The model is composed with the maximum Young's modulus and nonlinear values for higher strain in parallel with dynamic shear modulus. The maximum values is modeled by model parameters, $A_E$ and the power of mean effective principal stress, $n_E$. The nonlinear portion is represented by modified hyperbolic model, with the model parameters of reference strain, ${\varepsilon}_r$ and curvature coefficient, a. To assess the performance of the prediction models proposed herein, the elastic response of a test trackbed near PyeongTaek, Korea was evaluated using a 3-D nonlinear elastic computer program (GEOTRACK) and compared with measured elastic vertical displacement during the passages of freight and passenger trains. The material types of sub-ballasts are crushed stone and weathered granite soil, respectively. The calculated vertical displacements within the sub-ballasts are within the order of 0.6mm, and agree well with measured values with the reasonable margin. The prediction models are thus concluded to work properly in the preliminary investigation.