Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Evaluation of grouting layer vibration of railway precast concrete slab

track system
Young Kyo Cho, Seong-Min Kim ⇑
Department of Civil Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17104, Republic of Korea

h i g h l i g h t s

 Grouting layer behaviors of PST are evaluated depending on bonding characteristics.

 Grouting layer vibrations are measured and analyzed using a mockup segment of PST.
 Effects of grouting layer shapes on the vibration are comprehensively examined.
 Suggestions to mitigate damages of the grouting layer of PST are proposed.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The vibration of the grouting layer of the railway precast/prefabricated concrete slab track (PST) system
Received 4 May 2018 was comprehensively evaluated by conducting numerical and experimental analyses. The behaviors of
Received in revised form 24 June 2018 the grouting layer were thoroughly analyzed numerically depending on the bonding characteristics
Accepted 28 October 2018
among the layers of the PST system. The methods to reduce the excessive stresses of the grouting layer
Available online 30 October 2018
were examined by changing the shape of the grouting layer. An experimental analysis was also
performed using a mockup segment of the PST system to find the vibration characteristics of the grouting
Keywords:
layer and to verify the effectiveness of changing the grouting layer shape for reducing stresses and
Precast slab track
Railway
associated damages. Finally, suggestions were proposed to mitigate damages of the grouting layer caused
Grouting layer by the excessive vibration.
Impact loading Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Vibration
Damage
Corner shape

1. Introduction There are several different types of precast/prefabricated con-

Concrete slab track systems are currently used widely for rail-
ways because of their outstanding durability under the loads
caused by high speed and heavyweight trains and because they
require less maintenance than ballasted tracks. The railway con-
crete slab tracks include discrete and continuous track systems.
The discrete concrete slab tracks are normally constructed using
precast concrete slabs and the continuous concrete slab tracks
are built using cast-in-place concrete slabs [1–7]. The discrete con-
crete slab tracks using precast concrete slabs are being applied
increasingly in many countries since the factory-made concrete
slabs have excellent qualities and the construction of railway
tracks is faster.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: brain@khu.ac.kr (Y.K. Cho), seongmin@khu.ac.kr (S.-M. Kim).
crete slab track (PST) systems. Some of them include the Shinkan-
sen system developed in Japan [8–9], the Bögl system developed in
Germany [10–15], the Slab Track Austria system developed in Aus-
tria [16], and the CRTS series systems developed in China [17–21].
The PST systems are also being applied and improved in Korea as
shown in Fig. 1 [22]. To achieve the high performance of the rail-
way PST systems, a number of studies have been performed in
many countries [23–32].
The PST system is generally composed of three layers. The pre-
cast concrete slab lies at the top, the grouting layer exists at the
middle, and the basecourse is at the bottom. One of the Korean
PST systems was constructed in a 4.8 km long tunnel of Jungang
Line at Mangmiri, Gyeonggido. When the PST system was con-
structed, the precast concrete slabs were installed on the basec-
ourse and the empty space between the concrete slab and
basecourse was grouted using cement-based materials. The grout-
ing layer of that PST system has the same area of the concrete slab.
The general performance of that PST system was satisfactory, but

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.10.216
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254
Fig. 1. Precast concrete slab track (PST) system.
some damages of the grouting layer were found. Most of the dam-
ages were cracking and popout of the grouting layer at the corners
as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore, research is needed to discover the
causes of the grouting layer damages and to find strategies for mit-
igating these damages.
The objectives of this study are to investigate the dynamic
responses of the grouting layer lying between the precast concrete
slab and basecourse when the PST system is subjected to impact
loadings, and to suggest methods to reduce the vibration of the
grouting layer and associated damages. To analyze the behaviors
of the grouting layer, static and dynamic analyses are performed
by using numerical models of the PST system. In addition, experi-
ments are carried out using a mockup segment of the PST system
and the measurement data are analyzed to find the vibration char-
acteristics of the grouting layer. By comparing the numerical and
experimental analysis results, suggestions are proposed to reduce
damages of the grouting layer caused by the excessive vibration.
2. Numerical analysis
2.1. Numerical modeling of PST
In order to find the static and dynamic responses of the grouting
layer of the PST system, a three-dimensional finite element model
of the PST system has been developed [33] based on the actual PST
system considered in this study. As shown in Fig. 3, the PST system
is composed of three layers: precast concrete slab, grouting layer,
and basecourse. The longitudinal and transverse lengths of both
the concrete slab and the grouting layer are 3.65 m and 2.3 m,
respectively. The transverse length of the basecourse is 3.65 m
and the longitudinal length used in the analysis is 10 m even
though the basecourse is continuous. The concrete slab lies at the
Fig. 2. Damages of the grouting layer.
245
middle of the basecourse in the longitudinal direction and at
0.35 m inside from the outside edge of the basecourse in the trans-
verse direction. The thicknesses of the concrete slab, grouting
layer, and basecourse are 0.225 m, 0.043 m, and 0.180 m, respec-
tively. The underlying layer of the basecourse is assumed to be a
bedrock since the PST system considered in this study was con-
structed in a tunnel. The 8 noded linear rectangular solid finite ele-
ments with the element size on the horizontal plane of 0.05 m by
0.05 m are employed. The numbers of the elements in the vertical
direction of the concrete slab, grouting layer, and basecourse are 6,
3, and 4, respectively. When the layers are bonded to each other,
those are tied at the interfaces. When the layers are not bonded
at the interfaces, the hard contact is employed in the vertical direc-
tion and no friction is assumed in the horizontal direction. The
basecourse is assumed to be completely bonded to the underlying
bedrock. In order to investigate the critical responses of the system,
the loads are applied at the left and right outermost slipper loca-
tions as shown in Fig. 3. The actual magnitudes of the loads vary
depending on the weight of train, speed of train, smoothness of
rail, etc. To use a load within a reasonable range, an axle load of
250 kN (wheel load of 125 kN) is applied in this study based on
the design axle load of 220 kN, load distribution factor of 0.5,
dynamic impact factor of 2.0, and load amplification factor of
1.15. The material properties, thicknesses of the layers, and applied
loads used for numerical analyses are summarized in Table 1.
The different cases of bonding characteristics among the layers
of the PST system that are considered in this study are shown in
Fig. 4. The first case represents no bonding among the layers (P-
G-B case), the second case assumes perfect bonding between the
precast concrete slab and grouting layer and no bonding between
the grouting layer and basecourse (PG-B case), the third case
assumes no bonding between the precast concrete slab and grout-
ing layer and perfect bonding between the grouting layer and
basecourse (P-GB case), and the last case represents perfect bond-
ing among the layers (PGB case). The PST system was originally
designed as the P-GB case. However, the PGB case can occur at very
early stages of the system, and later the PG-B or P-GB cases can
develop. After a large number of load repetitions, the P-G-B case
may develop.
2.2. Static analysis
The behaviors of the grouting layer of the PST system under the
static loading are investigated depending on the bonding charac-
teristics among the layers. Fig. 5 shows the typical deflected shape
and stress distribution of the grouting layer when the PST system is
subjected to the static loading.
The static analysis results show that the stresses of the grouting
layer are affected by the bonding characteristics among the layers
as shown in Fig. 6. The longitudinal stresses at the bottom of the
grouting layer along the longitudinal edge of the grouting layer
246 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254

(a) Outline of numerical model of PST system

(b) Finite element modeling

Fig. 3. Numerical model of PST system.

Table 1 has the largest tensile stresses. The maximum tensile stresses that
Input values for numerical analysis. occurred in the grouting layer are obtained by observing the whole
Variable Value areas and are listed in Table 2. As investigated, the largest tensile
Elastic modulus of concrete slab (GPa) 31.9
stress of the grouting layer occurs for the PG-B case. However,
Elastic modulus of grouting layer (GPa) 31.9 for all the different bonding cases, the magnitudes of the maximum
Elastic modulus of basecourse (GPa) 11.3 tensile stresses are much smaller than the tensile strength of the
Thickness of concrete slab (mm) 225 grouting layer, which is normally over 4.5 MPa, so that damages
Thickness of grouting layer (mm) 43
such as cracking may not occur in the grouting layer under the sta-
Thickness of basecourse (mm) 180
Axle load (kN) 250 tic loading.
Wheel load (kN) 125

2.3. Dynamic analysis

are shown in Fig. 6(a). It is observed that the tensile stresses are the
largest for the PG-B case. This happens for this case because the
neutral axis of the grouting layer lies in the concrete slab due to
the bonding of the grouting layer to the bottom of the concrete
slab. For the transverse stresses at the bottom of the grouting layer
along the transverse edge, shown in Fig. 6(b), the PG-B case also
The responses of the grouting layer of the PST system under the
dynamic loading are investigated according to the bonding charac-
teristics among the layers. The dynamic loading used in this study
is an impact loading with a 0.2 s load duration that has been
obtained from a previous study [34]. Fig. 7 shows changes in the
deflected shape of the PST system including the vibration of the

(a) P-G-B case (b) PG-B case (c) P-GB case (d) PGB case
Fig. 4. Bonding characteristics among layers of PST system.
 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254
Fig. 5. Deflected shape and stress distribution of grouting layer under static
loading.
(a) Longitudinal stresses along longitudinal direction
(b) Transverse stresses along transverse direction
Fig. 6. Stresses of grouting layer under static loading.
Table 2
Maximum tensile stresses of grouting layer under static loading.
Cases P-G-B P-GB PG-B
Maximum tensile stress (MPa) 0.19 0.16 0.84
grouting layer subjected to an impact loading, for instance. The
dynamic responses have been obtained every 0.0002 s.
The dynamic stress responses of the grouting layer of the PST
system under the impact loading at the corner of the grouting layer
are shown in Fig. 8 according to the bonding characteristics among
the layers. When all the layers are not bonded to each other (P-G-B
case), the largest stresses of the grouting layer are observed. The
smallest stresses can be obtained when the grouting layer is
bonded to the basecourse and de-bonded from the concrete slab
(P-GB case). The other two cases of PG-B and PGB have high stres-
ses only at the very beginning of the load application, but then
quickly decrease and become close to zero. Even though the
247
magnitudes of the applied loads are the same, the stresses of the
grouting layer under the impact loading are significantly larger
than those under the static loading. The stress level of the grouting
layer under the impact loading is large enough to initiate cracking
due to a number of load repetitions, which is called fatigue
cracking.
The dynamic stress responses of the grouting layer near the cor-
ner of the grouting layer are shown in Fig. 9 for the P-G-B case. The
P-G-B case shows much larger stresses compared to the other
bonding cases. For the stresses along the transverse direction
shown in Fig. 9(a), (b), (c), and (d), the maximum tensile stress of
the grouting layer occurs at 50 mm from the corner and it reaches
about 3 MPa. The stresses of the grouting layer along the longitu-
dinal direction decrease as the distance from the corner becomes
larger as shown in Fig. 9(e), (f), and (g). As investigated, if there
are no bonding among the layers of the PST system, the stresses
of the grouting layer can increase significantly near the corner.
When the PST system is subjected to moving dynamic train loads
repeatedly, the bonding among the layers can be loosened and
the stresses of the grouting layer would increase. As a result, crack-
ing would result in the grouting layer near the corner and this
cracked part of the grouting layer can pop out.
2.4. Damage mitigation of grouting layer
The numerical analysis results show that the grouting layer is
stable under the static loading, but it is possible that the grouting
layer will be damaged at the corner under the dynamic loading. In
order to mitigate grouting layer damages, efforts have been made
to reduce the stresses of the grouting layer by changing the shape
of the grouting layer. As shown in Fig. 10, four different shapes of
the grouting layer are considered in addition to the current shape
of the grouting layer which is the same shape as concrete slab. In
case 1, the grouting layer is formed 50 mm inside the concrete slab.
In case 2, the area of the grouting layer is the same as that of the
concrete slab, but the corner of the grouting layer is rounded. In
case 3, the grouting layer is formed 50 mm inside the concrete slab
and the corner is rounded. In case 4, the grouting layer is formed
50 mm inside the concrete slab in the transverse direction and
placed continuously in the longitudinal direction.
The stress responses at the corner of different grouting layer
shapes for the P-G-B case under the impact loading are shown in
Fig. 11. Significantly lower stresses are observed for all 4 different
shapes of the grouting layer compared to the stresses with the
default (current) shape of the grouting layer. Although case 4
shows relatively larger stresses and continuous vibration as shown
in Fig. 11(d), this case still shows much smaller stresses than the
stresses from the default shape. By comparing the magnitudes
PGB and vibrations of the stresses obtained with the different cases of
the grouting layer shapes, it can be seen that case 3, where the
0.30
grouting layer is formed 50 mm inside the concrete slab and the
corner is rounded, is the most appropriate design to mitigate dam-
ages of the grouting layer. Case 2, in which the grouting layer has
the same area of the concrete slab but the corner is rounded, could
be an alternative choice if the grouting layer is not easy to be
formed inside the concrete slab during construction.
3. Experimental analysis
A mockup test is conducted to evaluate vibrations of the grout-
ing layer under the impact loading and to verify the effectiveness
of change in shape of the grouting layer for reducing stresses. An
experimental PST system is constructed and the dynamic
responses of the grouting layer are measured using gages when
248 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254

Fig. 7. Changes in deflected shape of PST system under impact loading.

(a) P-G-B (b) P-GB

(c) PG-B (d) PGB

Fig. 8. Stress responses of grouting layer at corner depending on bonding characteristics among layers.

the impact loading is applied. In addition, the curling behavior of
the PST system is investigated under the environmental loading.
3.1. Test setup
A mockup test PST system is built for experiments in accor-
dance with the construction process of the actual PST system as
shown in Fig. 12. To compare the vibration of the grouting layer
depending on the shape of the grouting layer, the suggested grout-
ing layer shapes of cases 2 and 3 obtained from the numerical anal-
yses are considered with the default shape of the grouting layer in
this experiment. Half of the grouting layer is formed as the same
area of the concrete slab with one corner that has the rectangular
shape that is the default shape previously shown in Fig. 10(a), and
with the other corner that has the round shape (case 2) shown in
Fig. 10(c). The other half of the grouting layer is formed 50 mm
inside the concrete slab and 2 corners are rounded, as in case 3
shown in Fig. 10(d). Polyethylene sheets in an equilateral triangu-
lar shape with 1 m side length are placed among the layers at the
corners to prevent bonding among the layers near the corners.
To apply the impact loading to the PST system, a falling weight
deflectometer (FWD) device shown in Fig. 13(a) is used in this
study. The FWD is widely employed for the evaluation of pave-
ments since the impact loadings generated by the FWD represent
heavyweight moving vehicular or aircraft loadings well [35–40].
The FWD consists of an impact load application apparatus in which
 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254 249

(a) At corner

(b) 50 mm transverse (c) 100 mm transverse (d) 150 mm transverse

(e) 50 mm longitudinal (f) 100 mm longitudinal (g) 150 mm longitudinal

Fig. 9. Stress responses of grouting layer near corner for P-G-B case.

a loading plate is able to fall down to generate an impact loading
and isolated geophones to acquire dynamic responses of pave-
ments under the impact loading. The impact load application sys-
tem in the FWD is used in this study. The sleepers on the precast
concrete slab near the corners where the FWD loadings are going
to be applied are fabricated to have a flat surface as shown in
Fig. 13(b). An overview of the loading test and the load application
on a loading sleeper are shown in Fig. 13(c) and (d).
To obtain the dynamic responses of the grouting layer and the
associated behaviors of the PST system, measurements are per-
formed using the experimental PST system. As shown in Fig. 14,
the accelerometers are attached at the corners of the grouting layer
to measure accelerations due to the vibration of the grouting layer
under the impact loading. The linear variable displacement trans-
ducers (LVDTs) are installed at the corners of the concrete slab to
measure the variation of vertical displacements of the concrete
slab due to changes in temperature, which is called a curling
behavior. The Pi-shape displacement transducers are also installed
at the corners between the concrete slab and grouting layer to
measure the variation of gap widths between the layers. The ther-
mocouples are installed at the top, middle, and bottom of the con-
crete slab to measure the variation of temperatures through slab
depth and to find the vertical temperature gradients that induce
curling of the PST system. Fig. 15 shows the installed gages for
measurements.
3.2. Behavior of PST
The curling behaviors of the concrete slab under environmental
loads are measured and shown in Fig. 16. All 4 corners of the con-
crete slab move vertically depending on the time of day. At day
times, the vertical displacements at the corners decrease and the
concrete slab curls down because the temperatures at the upper
part of slab are higher than those at the lower part. On the other
hand, the reverse occurs at night times. The curling behaviors are
more pronounced for the round corners 1 and 2 where the grouting
layer is formed 50 mm inside the concrete slab. This implies that
the concrete slab and grouting layer are de-bonded sufficiently at
the round corners 1 and 2, but the bonding between the concrete
slab and grouting layer is somewhat maintained near the rectangu-
lar corner and round corner 3 even though polyethylene sheets
exist between the layers.
The variations of gap displacements between the concrete slab
and grouting layer under environmental loads are shown in Fig. 17.
At the corners of the PST system with the grouting layer 50 mm
inside the concrete slab and round corner (Round corners 1 and
2), the variations of gap displacements are clearly observed and
the shapes of variations are similar to those of curling displace-
ments previously shown in Fig. 16. This means that the concrete
slab and grouting layer are obviously de-bonded at those areas
and the curling of the concrete slab forms the gap between them.
In addition, larger vertical displacements of the concrete slab than
the gap displacements between the concrete slab and grouting
layer imply that there is also a gap between the grouting layer
and basecourse. At the corners of the PST system with the grouting
layer of the same area as the concrete slab (Rectangular corner and
Round corner 3), very small gap displacements are observed. This
means again that the concrete slab and grouting layer are not de-
bonded sufficiently at those corners. The interfaces between the
layers at those corners, of course, will not be bonded because there
250 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254

(a) Default shape

(b) Case 1 (c) Case 2

(d) Case 3 (e) Case 4

Fig. 10. Different shapes of grouting layer.

(a) Case 1 (b) Case 2

(a) Case 3 (b) Case 4

Fig. 11. Stress responses of grouting layer at corner depending on grouting layer shape.

exist polyethylene sheets. However, the interfaces beyond those Since the curling behavior of the PST system can affect the
areas seem to be still bonded to each other so that the gaps are dynamic responses of the PST system, the impact loading tests
not clearly detected at those corners. are conducted when the PST system is in curl-up and curl-down
 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254
Fig. 12. Experimental PST system.
positions. For the curl-up PST system, the impact loading tests are
performed at 2:00 AM, and for the curl-down PST system, the tests
are performed at 3:00 PM. At each test, the impact loadings are
applied 9 times to each loading sleeper. The first loading is a pre-
load, and then the test loads of 52, 76, 88, and 101 kN are each
applied twice.
The vibration of the grouting layer under the impact loading is
evaluated by analyzing measured accelerations at the corners of
the grouting layer. The accelerations of the grouting layer when
the PST system is in curl-up position are shown in Fig. 18. As
already mentioned, the impact loadings have been applied 9 times
with different load magnitudes. The accelerations generally
become slightly larger as the load magnitude increases. Signifi-
cantly large accelerations can be observed for the grouting layer
with the rectangular corner as shown in Fig. 18(d). The accelera-
tions of the grouting layer with the round corners, however, are
(a) Falling weight deflectometer
(c) Impact loading test
Fig. 13. Impact load application.
251
smaller as shown in Fig. 18(a), (b) and (c). The results of this exper-
iment confirm the numerical analysis results.
The accelerations of the grouting layer under the impact load-
ings when the PST system is in curl-down position are shown in
Fig. 19. The accelerations in this case are generally smaller than
those when the PST system is in curl-up position. The accelerations
of the grouting layer with the corners 50 mm inside the concrete
slab and round shape (Round corners 1 and 2) are very small, even
smaller than those with the rectangular corner and round corner of
the same area of the concrete slab (Rectangular corner and Round
corner 3). Therefore, this experiment verifies that the vibration of
the grouting layer can be reduced by changing the rectangular
shape corners with the round shape corners.
4. Conclusions and recommendations
The vibration of the grouting layer of the PST system was com-
prehensively evaluated by conducting numerical and experimental
analyses. The static and dynamic behaviors of the grouting layer
were thoroughly analyzed numerically depending on the bonding
characteristics among the layers of the PST system. The methods
to reduce the excessive stresses of the grouting layer by changing
the shape of the grouting layer were examined. The experimental
analysis was also performed using a mockup segment of the PST
system to find the vibration characteristics of the grouting layer
and to verify the effectiveness of changing the grouting layer shape
for reducing stresses and associated damages. The findings from
this study are summarized as follows.
 The tensile stresses of the grouting layer of the PST system
under the static loading depend on the bonding characteristics
among the layers and are largest when the grouting layer is
bonded to the precast concrete slab and de-bonded from the
basecourse. However, the maximum tensile stresses are much
(b) Loading sleeper
(d) Load application
252 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254

Fig. 14. Gage installation plan.

(a) LVDT (b) Accelerometer and Pi-shape displacement transducer

Fig. 15. Installed gages.

Fig. 16. Curling behavior of concrete slab under environmental loads. Fig. 17. Gap displacements between concrete slab and grouting layer under
environmental loads.

smaller than the tensile strength of the grouting layer which

means damages such as cracking may not occur in the grouting
layer under the static loading.
 The dynamic stress responses of the grouting layer of the PST
system under the impact loading are also affected by the bond-
ing characteristics among the layers. The largest stresses of the
grouting layer are observed when all the layers are not bonded
to each other. Even though the magnitudes of the applied loads
are the same, the stresses of the grouting layer under the impact
loading are significantly larger than those under the static load-
ing. The stress level of the grouting layer under the impact load-
ing is large enough to initiate fatigue cracking in the grouting
layer after a number of load repetitions.
 The different shapes of the grouting layer are considered to find
numerically the strategies of reducing the dynamic stress
responses of the grouting layer. By comparing the stresses
depending on the grouting layer shapes, the grouting layer
formed 50 mm inside the concrete slab and rounded at the cor-
ner is found to most significantly reduce the stresses of the
grouting layer. The grouting layer that has the same area of
the concrete slab and rounded at the corner is an alternative
choice if the grouting layer is not easy to be formed inside the
concrete slab during construction.
 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254 253

(a) Round corner 1 (b) Round corner 2

(c) Round corner 3 (d) Rectangular corner

Fig. 18. Accelerations of grouting layer under impact loading with curl-up slab.

(a) Round corner 1 (b) Round corner 2

(c) Round corner 3 (d) Rectangular corner

Fig. 19. Accelerations of grouting layer under impact loading with curl-down slab.

 The vibrations of the grouting layer under the impact loading
are experimentally evaluated by conducting mockup tests. The
accelerations of the grouting layer when the PST system is in
curl-up position are significantly large for the grouting layer
with the rectangular corner. By changing the rectangular shape
corner of the grouting layer with the round shape corner, it has
been found that the accelerations of the grouting layer decrease
significantly. These experimental analysis results confirm the
numerical analysis results regarding the strategies to reduce
the stresses of the grouting layer.
254 Y.K. Cho, S.-M. Kim / Construction and Building Materials 193 (2018) 244–254
According to the original design of the PST system, if the grout-
ing layer is bonded to the basecourse and de-bonded from the pre-
cast concrete slab, the grouting layer does not experience large
stresses as shown in this study. However, the bonding among the
layers of the PST system can be loosened because of a large number
of train load repetitions and/or carelessness during construction.
Once there is no bonding among the layers, significantly large
stresses can take place near the corners of the grouting layer caus-
ing damages such as cracking and popout of the grouting layer. If
the rectangular corners of the grouting layer are changed to be
round, the large stress occurrence near the corners of the grouting
layer can be reduced significantly regardless of the bonding situa-
tions among the layers of the PST system as demonstrated in this
study. Therefore, it is recommended that when the grouting layer
is formed between the concrete slab and basecourse, the corners
of the grouting layer be rounded to mitigate potential damages
of the grouting layer. Moreover, if the grouting layer is formed
slightly inside the concrete slab with the rounded corners, the
stresses and associated damages of the grouting layer can be fur-
ther decreased.
Conflict of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The study described in this paper was sponsored by SAMPYO
Railway Inc. The financial support of SAMPYO Railway Inc. is sin-
cerely appreciated. The authors also express gratitude to Mr.
Kihong Ahn and Mr. Hoo Sam Lee for their valuable comments.
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