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Keywords: railway platform, non destructive tests, loading tests, falling weight deflectometer, ground penetrating radar, backcalculation.

Summary

The maintenance of railways has a significant impact, not only economically, but also as a result of traffic restrictions during operation. An important part for a proper maintenance policy is the evaluation of the condition of the railway track. Nowadays, the parameters measured during the railway monitoring are mainly related to the track layout and rail wearing. Recently, the use of non destructive techniques for railway substructure evaluation has increased as a result of advantages in the monitoring methods being present. Equipment that is used successfully for pavement evaluation, such as the ground penetrating radar (GPR) [1,2] and the falling weight deflectometer (FWD), are adapted to the specific requirements of railway infrastructure.

A test section was studied [3,4] in order to define the procedure to be applied for data analysis along the track. Loading tests and layer thickness measurements were used for backcalculation and evaluation of railway platform bearing capacity. Some of the results obtained for structural characterisation of this test section are presented in this paper.

In this way, it is possible to identify the causes of stiffness variation along the infrastructure and to correlate the future in service behaviour with the real causes of possible pathologies, such as track settlements.

Based on the tests performed during this study, it will be possible to define testing procedures for FWD and GPR measurements, to study the substructure response under different load levels and water content conditions and to correlate the FWD test with other loading tests performed in situ, such as portable falling weight tests and plate load tests.

The application of non-destructive testing has proven to be an efficient way to obtain continuous information of the platform condition.

References

1: A. Loizos, C. Plati, "Accuracy of Ground Penetrating Radar horn-antenna technique for sensing pavement subsurface", IEEE Sensors Journal, 7(5), May 2007. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2007.894152
2: S. Fontul, M.L. Antunes, E. Fortunato, M. Oliveira, "Practical application of GPR in transport infrastructure survey", International Conference on Advanced Characterisation of Pavement and Soil Engineering Materials, Athens, Greece, 20-22 June 2007.
3: F. De Chiara, S. Fontul, A. Paixão, A. D'Andrea, "Bituminous mixtures application in railway sub-ballast layer", 5th International Conference Bituminous Mixtures and Pavements (5th ICONFBMP), Thessaloniki, Greece, 1-3 June 2011.
4: F. De Chiara, "Sub Ballast Ferroviari: Caratterizzazione, confronto e sviluppo di nuove soluzioni progettuali", MSc. Thesis, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, 2010. (in Italian)

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Front Page Browse CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Proceedings ISSN 1759-3433 CCP: 96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING Edited by: B.H.V. Topping and Y. Tsompanakis Paper 16 Non-Destructive Tests for Railway Infrastructure Stiffness Evaluation S. Fontul¹, E. Fortunato¹ and F. De Chiara² ¹Department of Transportation, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal ²"Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy doi:10.4203/ccp.96.16 purchase the full-text of this paper Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper S. Fontul, E. Fortunato, F. De Chiara, "Non-Destructive Tests for Railway Infrastructure Stiffness Evaluation", in B.H.V. Topping, Y. Tsompanakis, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 16, 2011. doi:10.4203/ccp.96.16 Keywords: railway platform, non destructive tests, loading tests, falling weight deflectometer, ground penetrating radar, backcalculation. Summary The maintenance of railways has a significant impact, not only economically, but also as a result of traffic restrictions during operation. An important part for a proper maintenance policy is the evaluation of the condition of the railway track. Nowadays, the parameters measured during the railway monitoring are mainly related to the track layout and rail wearing. Recently, the use of non destructive techniques for railway substructure evaluation has increased as a result of advantages in the monitoring methods being present. Equipment that is used successfully for pavement evaluation, such as the ground penetrating radar (GPR) [1,2] and the falling weight deflectometer (FWD), are adapted to the specific requirements of railway infrastructure. A test section was studied [3,4] in order to define the procedure to be applied for data analysis along the track. Loading tests and layer thickness measurements were used for backcalculation and evaluation of railway platform bearing capacity. Some of the results obtained for structural characterisation of this test section are presented in this paper. In this way, it is possible to identify the causes of stiffness variation along the infrastructure and to correlate the future in service behaviour with the real causes of possible pathologies, such as track settlements. Based on the tests performed during this study, it will be possible to define testing procedures for FWD and GPR measurements, to study the substructure response under different load levels and water content conditions and to correlate the FWD test with other loading tests performed in situ, such as portable falling weight tests and plate load tests. The application of non-destructive testing has proven to be an efficient way to obtain continuous information of the platform condition. References 1 A. Loizos, C. Plati, "Accuracy of Ground Penetrating Radar horn-antenna technique for sensing pavement subsurface", IEEE Sensors Journal, 7(5), May 2007. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2007.894152 2 S. Fontul, M.L. Antunes, E. Fortunato, M. Oliveira, "Practical application of GPR in transport infrastructure survey", International Conference on Advanced Characterisation of Pavement and Soil Engineering Materials, Athens, Greece, 20-22 June 2007. 3 F. De Chiara, S. Fontul, A. Paixão, A. D'Andrea, "Bituminous mixtures application in railway sub-ballast layer", 5th International Conference Bituminous Mixtures and Pavements (5th ICONFBMP), Thessaloniki, Greece, 1-3 June 2011. 4 F. De Chiara, "Sub Ballast Ferroviari: Caratterizzazione, confronto e sviluppo di nuove soluzioni progettuali", MSc. Thesis, University of Rome "Sapienza", Rome, 2010. (in Italian) purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the book description purchase this book (price £130 +P&P)
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