Pile foundation of high-speed railway undergoing repeated groundwater reductions

Long-pile groups of railway foundation undergo excessive settlements after groundwater reductions,which may exceed the settlement limit and threaten the safe operation of high-speed trains.However,the effect of groundwater reduction on a long-pile group(greater than 20 m in length)has not been fully understood,especially in respect of repeated reductions.In this study,a centrifuge test was conducted to investigate the responses of pile groups in silty soils subjected to repeated falls in the water table.The behavior of the piles was discussed based both on the test and on 3D numerical analyses.With the derived coef-ficientβfor the axial force evaluation of the pile,the effect of lowering the water table on the railway pile foundation could be seen.Results of the tests and numerical analyses indicated that the water table decline significantly increased the down-drag and axial force of the pile,causing significant settlement.A longer pile presented a larger axial force at the neutral point.Nevertheless,the incremental percentage of the axial force decreased with increasing pile length with the same water table reduction.Because of group effect,the displacement of soil next to the center pile was smaller than that near the corner piles and showed a similar trend as the axial force of the pile.As the water table fell,the static load ratio affecting the progress of pile settlement increased dis-advantageously,possibly inducing excessive pile settlement.A design method for railway pile foundations taking account of lowering groundwater was proposed with an example application,which provided a reference for similar projects.

Analysis of dynamic stresses in ballasted railway track due to train passages at high speeds

Repeated train passages bring detrimental effects on train operations,especially at high speeds.In this study,a computational model consisting of moving train vehicles,track structure,and track foundation is used to investigate the stress distribution in the track substructure and underlying soil,particularly when the train speed approaches the critical speed via 2.5D finite element method.The numerical model has been validated by in-situ test results from a ballasted high-speed railway.The computational results reveal that the substructure is shown to be effective in reducing the stresses transmitted to the ground;however,a simple Boussinesq approximation is proved to be inaccurate because it cannot properly take account of the effect of multi-layered substructures and train speeds.It is acceptable to assume a simplified smooth track in the analysis model for determining the maximum stresses and displacements for a low-speed railway(≤100 km/h)but,for a high-speed one,the dynamic amplification effect of track irregularities must also be considered in subgrade design.Analysis of the stress paths revealed that the load speed and track irregularity increase the likelihood of failure for the subgrade;track irregularity can induce many times of principal stress rotations even under a simple single moving load.