• International Journal of Railway
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.112-119
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• 2013

A mid-size RC test apparatus (MRCA) equipped with a program is developed that can test samples up to D=10 cm diameter and H=20 cm height which are larger than usual samples used in practice. Using the developed RC test apparatus, two types of crushed trackbed foundation materials were tested in order to get the shear modulus reduction curves of the materials with changing of shear strain levels. For comparison purpose, large repetitive triaxial compression tests (LRT) with samples of height H=60cm and diameter D=30 cm were performed also. Resilient modulus obtained from the LRT was converted to shear modulus by considering elastic theory and strain level conversion and were compared to shear modulus values from the MRCA. It is found from this study that the MRCA can be used to test the trackbed foundation materials properly. It is found also that strain levels of $E_{v2}$ mostly used in the field should be verified considering the shear modulus reduction curves and proper values of $E_{v2}$ of trackbed foundation must be used considering the strain level verified.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2015

It is important to evaluate the stiffness characteristics of compacted subgrade soil under track that is loaded dynamically. Using a mid-size Resonant Column test apparatus, normalized shear modulus and shear modulus variation with changing of confining pressure were investigated with change of degree of saturation (DOS). From an analysis of the test results, it was verified that the maximum shear modulus decreased with increases of DOS. However, normalized shear modulus increased with increases of DOS. Using the test results, a relation of G~${\gamma}$~DOS can be constructed and characterized. In the future, by performing tests with soils used as trackbed broadly in the field, a prediction model for DOS~G~${\gamma}$ can be proposed.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.1115-1122
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• 2011

Reinforced-Roadbed materials are usually composed of crushed stones. Repeated load application can induce deformation in the reinforced-roadbed layer so that it causes irregularity of track. Thus it is important to develop a prediction model of elastic modulus based on stress-strain relation under repeatitive load in order to investigate behavior of reinforced roadbed. The prediction model of elastic modulus of the material can be obtained from repeated triaxial test. However, a proper size of the sample for the test must be used. In this study, a large repeatitive triaxial test apparatus with the sample size of diameter of 30 cm and height of 60cm was adapted for performing test of the crushed stone reinforced-roadbed considering large particle size to get resilient modulus Mr. The obtained resilient modulus was compared to shear modulus obtained from mid size resonant column test. The sample size effect is somewhat large enough so that it is required to design a scale factor based on similarity law in order to use smaller samples for getting elastic modulus of the crushed stone reinforced-roadbed material. A scale factor could be obtained from this study.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.50-54
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• 2015

The primary function of the trackbed in a conventional railway track system is to decrease the stresses in the subgrade to be in an acceptable level. A properly designed trackbed layer performs this task adequately. Many design procedures have used assumed and/or are based on critical stiffness values of the layers obtained mostly in the field to calculate an appropriate thickness of the sublayers of the trackbed foundation. However, those stiffness values do not consider strain levels clearly and precisely in the layers. This study proposes a method of computation of stiffness that can handle with strain level in the layers of the trackbed foundation in order to provide properly selected design values of the stiffness of the layers. The shear modulus values are dependent on shear strain level so that the strain levels generated in the subgrade in the trackbed under wheel loading and below plate of Repeated Plate Bearing Test (RPBT) are investigated by finite element analysis program ABAQUS and PLAXIS programs. The strain levels generated in the subgrade from RPBT are compared to those values from RC (Resonant Column) test after some consideration of strain levels and stress consideration. For comparison of shear modulus G obtained from RC test and stiffness moduli $E_{v2}$ obtained from RPBT in the field, many numbers of mid-size RC tests in laboratory and RPBT in field were performed extensively. It was found in this study that there is a big difference in stiffness modulus when the converted $E_{v2}$ values were compared to those values of RC test. It is verified in this study that it is necessary to use precise and increased loading steps to construct nonlinear curves from RPBT in order to get correct $E_{v2}$ values in proper strain levels.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.476-484
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• 2012

In this study, a mid-size RC test apparatus equipped with analyzing program is developed that can test samples up to D=10cm diameter and H=20cm height which is larger than usual samples of D=5cm and H=10cm used mostly in practice. Thus, crushed stones with larger grains up to 38mm in diameter used mostly in Korea as reinforced trackbed materials in track construction could be considered effectively than conventionally used RC apparatus for evaluation of the dynamic properties of the materials by using the newly developed RC apparatus. The RC test apparatus was designed and assembled based on the concept of fixed-free fixity conditions and driving mechanism proposed by Stokoe. Using the developed RC test apparatus, three types of representative crushed reinforced trackbed materials were tested in order to get the dynamic properties of the materials such as $G/G_{max}$ reduction curves and damping ratio D. For comparison purpose, a small RC test apparatus has been used to test the same materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.85-98
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• 2017

In general, under the repetitive dynamic load generated by rail cars running on the track, subgrade soil experiences changes of stress conditions such as deviatoric stress (${\sigma}_d$) and bulk stress (${\theta}$). Due to the repetitive change of deviatoric stress (${\sigma}_d$) with number of loadings, the resilient modulus ($M_R$) can be obtained by using the measured resilient strain (${\varepsilon}_r$) after a sufficient number of loadings. At present, no plausible and unified test method has been proposed to obtain the resilient modulus of railway track subgrade soil. In this study, a possible test method for obtaining the resilient modulus ($M_R$) of railway track subgrade soil is proposed; this test, by utilizing repetitive triaxial compression testing, can consider all the important parameters, such as the confining stress, deviatoric stress, and number of loadings. By adapting and using the proposed test method to obtain $M_R$, $M_R$ values for compacted track subgrade soil can be successfully determined using soil obtained in three field sites of railway track construction with changing water content range from OMC. In addition, shear modulus (G) ~ shear strain (${\gamma}$) relation data were also obtained using a mid-size RC test. A correlation analysis was performed using the obtained G and $M_R$ values while considering the strain levels and modes of strain direction.