• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2018

Ballasted track has been widely used due to its flexibility. However, the plastic deformation of ballasted track causes the evolution of track geometrical errors, and hence it requires continuous maintenance; increase in number of trains, weight, and speed expedites maintenance frequency and cost as well. Ballast stiffness is well-known as an indicator of design and maintenance. In this regard, this paper aims to suggest the method to measure ballast track stiffness using light-weight deflectometer (LWD) and thus verify its applicability as a maintenance measure. Preliminary field tests determined simple field testing protocol to measure track stiffness. The apparent ballast stiffness by LWD shows good corelation with TQI (Track Quality Index) and maintenance length. That is, as average of apparent stiffness increase, TQI and tamping length decrease exponentially. Therefore, apparent stiffness can be used as an index for ballast condition assessment.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.133-140
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• 2021

There are few attempts to estimate the strength and stiffness of controlled low strength material (CLSM) using existing field-testing methods. The objective of this study is to evaluate the resilient modulus of CLSM by using the Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) and investigate the relationships between the resilient modulus from LWD and the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and secant modulus of elasticity from unconfined compressive test. Five CLSMs with different mix designs are used to evaluate the flowability and the stiffening of the CLSM in the flow and Vicat needle tests, respectively. To evaluate the early strength and stiffness characteristics, unconfined compressive tests are performed using the CLSM specimens cured for 1 and 7 days. LWD tests are carried out to estimate the resilient modulus of the CLSM specimens. The experimental results show that for the curing time of 1 day, the UCS and secant modulus of elasticity generally increase with the fast setting mortar content (FC). The CLSM specimen with the highest FC shows the significant increase in the UCS and secant modulus of elasticity along the curing time. Overall, the resilient modulus for the curing time of 1 day increases with the FC, while that for the curing time of 7days decreases with an increase in the FC. From the results, the linear relationships between the resilient modulus and UCS and secant modulus of elasticity are established.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2012

This study introduces a methodology to evaluate different types of non-nuclear technologies to see how they are competitive to the nuclear technology for quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) in soil condition measurement for highway pavement construction. The non-nuclear methods including the Electrical Density Gauge (EDG) and the Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) were tested for their performance against a nuclear gauge, and traditional methods were used as baselines. An innovative way of comparing a deflection gauge to a density gauge was introduced. Results showed that the nuclear gauge generally outperformed the non-nuclear gauge in accuracies of soil density and moisture content measurements. Finally, a framework was developed as a guideline for evaluating various types of non-nuclear soil gauges. From other perspectives rather than accuracy, it was concluded that the non-nuclear gauges would be better alternative to the nuclear gauge when the followings are considered: (1) greater life-cycle cost savings; (2) elimination of intense federal regulations and safety/security concerns; and (3) elimination of licensing and intense training.