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Ground Improvement For Rail, Port and Road, Infrastructure - From Theory To Practice
Ground Improvement For Rail, Port and Road, Infrastructure - From Theory To Practice
Ground Improvement For Rail, Port and Road, Infrastructure - From Theory To Practice
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Ground Improvement for Rail, Port and Road, Infrastructure - From Theory to
Practice
INTRODUCTION
Ground improvement techniques have been employed to improve road and railway
embankment conditions and reclaimed lands in Australia. Ballasted rail tracks are the
largest transportation infrastructure catering for public and freight transport in
Australia. Railway industries are continuing to improve their efficiency and to decrease
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costs related to construction and maintenance. Rail embankments are usually subjected
to large cyclic stresses due to heavier and faster trains inducing large deformations and
degradation of the ballast layer. Several studies in the past have highlighted ballast
breakage and confining pressure are key parameters controlling the behavior of
ballasted rail tracks (Marsal 1973, Indraratna et al. 2005a, Lackenby et al. 2007). The
potential use of geosynthetics to enhance track stability is demonstrated in several
laboratory studies (Selig and Waters 1994, Raymond 2002, Indraratna and Salim 2003,
Indraratna et al. 2010a, Indraratna and Nimbalkar 2013). Nevertheless, limited studies
have quantified the relative performances of geosynthetics and shock mats under in situ
track conditions. The details of field instrumentation and monitoring processes along
with the preliminary findings of these unique studies are discussed.
Soft clays (estuarine or marine) along coastal regions in Australia have undesirable
geotechnical properties such as low bearing capacity and high compressibility. In the
absence of appropriate ground improvement (Indraratna and Redana 1998; Bergado et
al. 2002; Indraratna et al. 2009; Indraratna et al. 2010b), excessive settlement and
lateral movement adversely affect the stability of buildings and port and transport
infrastructure including highway and rail embankments built on such soft ground
(Indraratna and Redana 2000; Indraratna et al. 2011b). In this paper, finite element
analysis of a rail track stabilized with relatively short prefabricated vertical drains
(PVDs) is presented and discussed to show performance of short PVDs to dissipate
cyclic load induced pore pressures, limit horizontal movements and increase the
bearing capacity of the soft subgrade.
Attributed to our environmentally conscious society, waste minimisation and waste
recycling are given a high priority in Australian industry today. Byproducts of the coal
mining and steel industry including coal wash (CW) and steel furnace slag (SFS) are
typically treated as wastes and disposed of in stockpiles occupying usable land.
Innovative use of these granular wastes through civil engineering applications such as
reclamation is vital for the local environment and economy. However, given the
variability of these materials and the complex behavior especially under saturated
conditions, the understanding and quantification of their load bearing capacities,
stability and settlement characteristics are vital when used as harbor reclamation fill.
To enable the construction of road embankment in soft clay areas, adequate ground
improvement techniques are required to eliminate excessive settlement and lateral
movement which may affect the stability of infrastructure built on such soft ground
(Indraratna et al. 2008; Indraratna et al. 2010; Indraratna et al. 2012). To reduce the
embankment height and accelerate consolidation, a vacuum pressure can be applied
and sustained via PVDs system (Rujikiatkamjorn and Indraratna 2009). Sathananthan
et al. (2008), Ghandeharioon et al. (2010) and Ghandeharioon et al. (2012) showed that
installing drains creates a disturbed region known as a smear zone where the structure
of the clay layer is changed such that the horizontal permeability is reduced and the
compressibility is increased. Once the soil shear strength has mobilized, the long term
settlement will be significantly less, thereby eliminating any risk of instability of the
overlying infrastructure (Shang et al. 1998). The ground improvement provided by
prefabricated vertical drains combined with vacuum pressure is now proven to be an
economically attractive alternative in the stabilization of deep soft clay sites (Gao,
2004).
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Track Instrumentation
The performance of the experimental section was monitored using a series of
sophisticated instruments. The vertical and horizontal stresses developed in the ballast
were measured by rapid response hydraulic earth pressure cells with thick, grooved
active faces based on semi-conductor type transducers. Vertical and lateral
deformations were measured by settlement pegs and electronic displacement
transducers, respectively. These transducers were placed inside two, 2.5 m long
stainless steel tubes that can slide over each other, with 100 mm × 100 mm end caps as
anchors. The settlement pegs consisted of 100 mm × 100 mm × 6 mm stainless steel
base plates attached to 10 mm diameter steel rods. The settlement pegs and
displacement transducers were installed at sleeper-ballast, and ballast-subballast
interfaces, respectively, as shown in Figure 1.
BALLAST
BALLAST
150 150
300 300
SUBBALLAST
SUBBALLAST
v v
h h
5 5
N = 9.1 X 10 N = 9.1 X 10
450 450
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Cyclic stresses induced by (a) passenger train (82 tons), (b) a coal train
(100 tons) (Indraratna et al. 2010a).
Ballast deformations
Vertical and horizontal deformations were measured in the field, against time. A
relationship between the annual rail traffic in million gross tons (MGT) and axle load
was used to determine the number of load cycles (Selig and Waters, 1994). Vertical
deformations of ballast against the number of load cycles (N) are shown in Figure 3(a).
The recycled ballast section showed less deformations compared fresh ballast section
because the former has moderately graded particle size distribution (Cu = 1.8)
compared to the very uniform fresh ballast (Cu = 1.5). Recycled ballast often has a
lesser amount of breakage because the individual particles are more rounded. This can
lead to the prevention of corner breakage at high contact stress locations.
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0 0
2
3
Vertical deformation of ballast, Sv
6
9
8
Fresh Ballast
12 Recycled Ballast
10 Fresh Ballast
Fresh Ballast with Geocomposite Recycled Ballast
Recycled Ballast with Geocomposite Fresh Ballast with Geocomposite
15
12
Recycled Ballast with Geocomposite
18 14
3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Number of load cycles, N Number of load cycles, N
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Deformations of the ballast layer: (a) vertical; (b) lateral (Indraratna et
al. 2010a).
Figure 3(b) indicates that geocomposite reduced lateral deformation of fresh ballast
by half and that of recycled ballast by approximately 10%. This is because the
apertures of the geogrid enhance mechanical interlocking with the ballast. This leads
to an increase in the capacity of the ballast layer to distribute a load which substantially
reduced settlement under high repeated loading. The ability of geosynthetics to reduce
the rate of track deterioration is appealing to the railway industry because the cost of
installation is low, and more resilient behaviour by the ballast.
The Sandgate Rail Grade Separation Project is situated at Sandgate in the Lower
Hunter Valley, NSW (Figure 4). Field and laboratory testing was conducted to obtain
relevant soil parameters. Site investigation was comprised of 6 boreholes, 14
piezocone tests, 2 in-situ vane shear tests and 2 test pits. Laboratory testing included
soil index property, standard oedometer and vane shear were also performed.
A soil profile presents that soft compressible formation varies from 4 m to 30 m
thick. The lightly overconsolidated soft residual clay is underneath the soft soil layer
and followed by shale stratum. The soil properties are shown in Figure 5. The
groundwater is located at the ground level. The moisture contents are similar to their
liquid limits. The average soil unit weight was approximately 15 kN/m3. The
undrained shear strength varied between 10 and 40 kPa. The coefficient of
consolidation in horizontal direction (ch) is 2-10 times that in the vertical direction (cv).
Based on preliminary numerical analysis conducted by Indraratna et al. (2010b) and Ni
et al. (2013), short PVDs were suggested and installed at 2 m spacing in a triangular
pattern up to 8m in depth. The objectives of the field instrumentations were to: (a)
monitor the track stability; (b) assess the performance of the new railway stabilized by
PVDs; and (c) investigate the accuracy of the numerical analysis through Class A
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predictions, where the field monitoring data were unavailable at the time of finite
element modeling.
10
Depth (m)
20
30
Plastic limit
Liquid limit
Water content
Preliminary Design
Due to time limitation, rail tracks were constructed right after the PVDs installation.
The train traveling at very low speed was employed as the only external surcharge. The
equivalent dynamic loading considering an impact load factor was adopted for the
numerical analysis. A static pressure of 104 kPa with an impact factor of 1.3 was
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applied according to the low train speed for 25-tonne axle load, based on the Australian
Standards AS 1085.14-1997. The Mohr-Coulomb model was employed to represent
the overconsolidated fill layer, whereas the soft formations were modeled using the
Soft Soil model with the finite element code, PLAXIS (Brinkgreve 2002). The soil
parameters are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Selected parameters for soft soil layer used in the FEM (Indraratna et
al. 2010b)
A mesh discritisation of the formation beneath the rail track is shown in Figure 6. A
plane strain finite element analysis employed triangular elements with six displacement
nodes and three pore pressure nodes. Four rows of PVDs were used in the analysis. An
equivalent plane strain analysis with appropriate conversion from axisymmetric to 2-D
was adopted to analyze the multi-drain analysis (Indraratna et al. 2005b). In this
method, the corresponding ratio of the equivalent smear zone permeability to the
undisturbed zone permeability for plane strain analysis is:
k s , ps
k h , ps k h ,ax ln n / s k h ,ax k s ,ax ln s 0.75
(1)
k h , ps
0.67n s 3 / n 2 n 1 (1a)
drain and subscripts ‘ax’ and ‘ps’ denote the axisymmetric and plane strain condition,
respectively. The ratio of equivalent plane strain to axisymmetric permeability in the
undisturbed zone is given by:
kh , ps kh ,ax 0.67n 1 / n 2 lnn 0.75
2
(2)
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20m
9m
Soft Soil 1
Soft Soil 2
10m
65m
Figure 6. Vertical cross section of rail track and foundation (Indraratna et al.
2010b).
Comparison of Field Results with Class A FEM Predictions
The field monitoring data were given to the Auhtors by the track owner (Australian
Rail Track Corporation) a year after the analysis. Therefore, all predictions can be
classified as Class A (Lambe 1973). The calculated and measured vertical settlements
at the centre line are shown in Figure 7. The predicted settlement is in agreement with
the field data. The in situ horizontal displacement at 6 months at the rail embankment
toe is presented in Figure 8. As expected, maximum lateral displacements are
measured within the upper clay layer i.e. the softest formation below the 1 m crust and
are is restricted to the topmost compacted fill (depth 0-1 m). The Class A predictions of
lateral displacements also agree well with the field observation. The effectiveness of
PVDs track stability through the reduction in lateral movement is demonstrated here.
0
0.05
Field Data
Settlement (m)
0.1 Prediction-Class A
0.15
0.2
0.25
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time (days)
Figure 7. Predicted and measured settlements at the centre line of rail tracks
(after Indraratna et al. 2010b)
-4
-8
Depth (m)
Soft Soil 1
-12
Soft Soil 2
-20
As an option to the conventional freshly quarried or dredged sand fills, the potential
use of CW and SFS as the predominant reclamation fill was examined at the
reclamation project for the Outer Harbor extension of Port Kembla, Wollongong.
Detailed laboratory investigations shown that there are optimum CW-SFS mixtures
that may meet most of the geotechnical requirements to be adopted as an alternative
structural fill above the high tide level.
Standard Proctor compaction tests shows that as the SFS portion increases from 0%
to 100%, the maximum dry density (MDD) increases from 15 kN/m3 to 22 kN/m3. The
optimum moiture content somewhat decreases from 10.8% to 9.5% (Figure 10). The
variation in MDD is essentially controlled by the significant increase in Gs when SFS
content increses. MDD of mixtures containing 40-60% SFS are equivalent to the MDD
of typical compacted sandy fills (18 kN/m3).
100
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40
20
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Particle Size (mm)
Figure 9. Particle size distributions of CW and SFS for field and laboratory
conditions (Rujikiatkamjorn et al. 2013).
24
SFS(100%)
22
CW(20%)+SFS(80%)
CW(40%)+SFS(60%)
Dry Density (kN/m )
3
20 CW(50%)+SFS(50%)
CW(60%)+SFS(40%)
18 CW(80%)+SFS(20%)
CW(100%)
16
14
12
0 5 10 15 20 25
Moisture content (%)
-1
Experimental data Fitting curve
10
Typical permeability for gravels
-2
10
Mixtures
for field trial
Permeability (cm/s)
-3
10 Acceptable range
(' =39°) of permeability for
-4 fill materials
10
-5
10
(' =43°)
-6 Typical permeability for sands
10
-7
10
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of CW (%)
Figure 11. Variation of permeability with coal wash percentage and friction
angle (Rujikiatkamjorn et al. 2013).
To optimize the use of waste materials as effective reclamation fill, the following
permeability and strength specification generally adopted for conventional fills may be
considered: (i) Placed fill material to have a friction angle more than 30°; (ii) Placed fill
material to possess a permeability coefficient between 1 × 10-7 m/s and 1 × 10-5 m/s to
guarantee fast dissipation of excess PWP, as well as to minimize internal erosion
(Chiaro et al. 2014). To satisfy the above stated design criteria, the blended waste
mixtures should have a content of CW > 50%. The actual performance of a compacted
fill in the field can be quite different from that observed in the laboratory for much
smaller specimens with reduced gradations enclosed within a rigid boundary of the
compaction chambers. As a result, it is important to validate the laboratory findings
with the actual field behavior of CW-SFS mixtures and establish the most appropriate
compaction method and associated machinery. For this purpose, field trial tests were
carried out.
In September 2012, a field trial was conducted at Port Kembla reclamation site to
evaluate the performance of two selected CW-SFS mixtures and to establish an
appropriate compaction method for CW-SFS fills. Nevertheless, the field trial was an
essential part of this investigation to properly assess in-situ swelling and to recognize
the advantages and limitations of blended mixtures as compacted fill material. A pit
with dimensions of 55 m long, 14 m wide and 1.4 m deep was provided for the field
trial. The area was divided in two equal subsections having a volume of 540 m3 and
confirmed that compacted CW-BOS fills have greater strength compared to compacted
sandy fill.
Volumetric expansion was also measured for a period of about 180 days. Swelling
was found to be substantial for both the blends. According to field trial and laboratory
investigations, although the strength of CW-BOS blend with SFS content > 50% may
be better compared to most conventional fills, such considerable level of swelling (i.e.
> 3%) should be employed with caution for CW-SFS mixture when used as structural
fill, unless the live load exceeds the swell pressure (about 100 kPa for BOS).
(a)
(b)
Figure 12. Port Kembla construction site: (a) prior fill placement; and (b) during
compaction (Chiaro et al. 2014)
The Pacific Highway was built to support the transportation demand in the eastern
coastal belt of Australia. The route has to cross a floodplain comprising of highly
compressible and saturated estuarine and alluvial soft formation up to 30m in. Vacuum
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assisted surcharge loading together with prefabricated vertical drains was employed to
stabilize ground before the road embankment can be built. At the site in Ballina, the
installation of 34 mm diameter circular drains at a spacing of 1.0m in a square pattern
over an area of approximately 9.5ha was carried out. Figure 13 presents the locations of
field instrumentation, which included surface settlement plates, inclinometers and
piezometers. The embankment was separated into 2 sections, i.e. Section A:
conventional surcharge and Section B with vacuum pressure. The design embankment
height was varied from 4.3m to 14.0m to limit the long term settlement. A vacuum
pressure of 70 kPa (suction) was applied and removed after 400 days. Geotechnical
parameters of the three subsoil layers obtained from standard oedometer tests are listed
in Table 2.
Figure 13. Instrumentation layout for the test embankments at Ballina Bypass
(Indraratna et al. 2010)
Recorded settlements and associated pore pressure are shown in Fig. 4 with an
embankment construction schedule. Initially the embankments were built to a height of
4-8m in 3 months. Afterwards, the vacuum was applied and varied from -70 kPa to -80
kPa for 200 days. No air leaks were detected during vacuum application. After 660
days, the second stage of embankment construction was commenced. The surcharge
preloading was ceased after 3 years.
Only selected surface settlements are plotted (i.e., SP1 SP3, SP5, SP7, SP9 and
SP11). SP1 is located in a non-vacuum area, whereas the others were installed in the
vacuum applied area. The variations of time-settlement curves are significantly
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different because of the variation of clay depth and the fill thickness. The maximum
vertical strain was about 24%, implying that the calculation of the settlement would
need to capture large strain considerations. The dissipation rate of the excess pore
pressure in non-vacuum areas was lower than that of the vacuum areas. The peak
excess pore pressure in vacuum area (120 kPa) was less than the applied surcharge load
(160 kPa). This could be attributed to the effect of applied vacuum pressure which
increased the effective stress without developing excess pore pressure in the soft soil
layers.
16
8
SP9
SP11
4
0
0 400 800 1200 1600
2 SP1
SP3
Settlement (m)
SP5
4 SP7
SP9
SP11
6
8
0 400 800 1200 1600
Excess pore pressure (kPa)
100
0
P1 (-1.3m)
P2 (-8.3m)
-100 P3 (-4.8m)
Vacuum application Vacuum guage
period
Lateral displacement
normalised by
embankment Height
Lateral displacement (mm)
0 200 400 0 0.04 0.08 0.12
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(a) (b)
0
Depth (m)
-10
I1
I1
I2
I2
-20 I3
I3
I4
I4
CONCLUSIONS
(< 3%). It is important to note that, the results presented in this paper are only indicative
and not necessarily valid for other types of CW-SFS mixtures owing its significant
variation in properties of both materials.
The performance of the combined vacuum and surcharge fill system and
construction of the embankment at Ballina Bypass, Australia was presented in this
paper. The embankment heights together with vacuum application were designed to
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vary in each section depending on the clay thickness. The settlement magnitudes in all
sections become more as a result of the increase in soft clay thickness, embankment
height and the vacuum application. The measured excess pore pressure showed that the
vacuum pressure can minimize the generation of excess pore pressure during
embankment construction. The normalized lateral displacement in the vacuum areas
was found to be less than that in non-vacuum areas. This clearly suggested the greater
stability achieved in vacuum areas in view of lateral displacement control.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Author wishes to thank the Australia Research Council, CRC for Rail
Innovation, RailCorp, ARTC, ARUP, John Holland, Penrith Lake Development
Corporation, Coffey Geotechnics, Queensland Rail National, Douglas Partners, Port
Kembla Port Corporation, Road and Maritime Services (NSW), Queensland Transport
& Main Roads, Menard Bachy and BHP Billiton for their continuous support. The
assistance of David Christie (formerly Senior Geotechnical Consultant, Rail
Infrastructure Corporation (NSW)), Tim Neville (ARTC), Michael Martin (QR
National), Dr Richard Kelly (Coffey) and Geoff McIntosh (Douglas Partners) is
gratefully acknowledged. The advice and help over a long period of time by Professor
A Balasubramaniam, Griffith University (Qld) is appreciated. A number of current and
past doctoral students, including Dr Joanne Lackenby, Dr Wadud Salim, Dr Iyathurai
Sathananthan, Miss Ana Heitor, Mr Ali Tasalloti and University of Wollongong
colleagues, Dr Xueyu Geng, Dr Pongpipat Anantanasakul and Dr Gabriele Chiaro have
all contributed to the contents of this paper. A significant portion of the contents have
been reproduced with kind permission from the Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering ASCE, An International Journal of Geomechanics and
Geoengineering and Canadian Geotechnical Journal.
REFERENCES