Abstract
Railway ballast undergoes rearrangement, abrasion, and even breakage, when subjected to high-speed train loads. To reproduce the deformation and degradation behavior of ballast under realistic boundaries used in laboratory triaxial tests, bonded particle clusters and clumps sampled within flexible and rigid boundaries were established, using the discrete element method and finite difference method. The models were then calibrated and validated against a series of experimental results. It is found that boundary condition has a considerable effect on the contact force chains and coordination number. The flexible boundary induces more uniform stress distribution between particle contacts, and consequently higher strength, lower dilation, and impartial breakage. A unimodal frequency distribution of the coordination number is observed when using flexible boundary, while rigid boundary can result in multi-modal distribution in breakable specimens. The flexible boundary also induces more particle breakage with high fragmentation. The rigid boundary specimens exhibit a bimodal distribution of particle breakage along the specimen height after test, with fewer fragments existing in the middle part; however, a unimodal distribution of particle breakage is found in the flexible boundary ones, which agrees more with the laboratory observation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sayeed, M.A., Shahin, M.A.: Design of ballasted railway track foundations using numerical modelling. Part I: Dev. Can. Geotech. J. 55, 353–368 (2017)
Koohmishi, M., Palassi, M.: Degradation of railway ballast under compressive loads considering particles rearrangement. Int. J. Pavement Eng. 21(2), 157–169 (2018)
Suiker, A.S.J., Fleck, N.A.: Frictional collapse of granular assemblies. J. Appl. Mech. 71, 350–358 (2004)
Suiker, A.S., Selig, E.T., Frenkel, R.: Static and cyclic triaxial testing of ballast and subballast. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 131, 771–782 (2005)
Aursudkij, B., McDowell, G.R., Collop, A.C.: Cyclic loading of railway ballast under triaxial conditions and in a railway test facility. Granul. Matter 11, 391–401 (2009)
Sun, Q., Indraratna, B., Nimbalkar, S.: Deformation and degradation mechanisms of railway ballast under high frequency cyclic loading. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 142, 04015056 (2016)
Indraratna, B., Babar Sajjad, M., Ngo, T., Gomes Correia, A., Kelly, R.: Improved performance of ballasted tracks at transition zones: a review of experimental and modelling approaches. Transp. Geotech. 21, 100260 (2019)
Indraratna, B., Sun, Y., Nimbalkar, S.: Laboratory assessment of the role of particle size distribution on the deformation and degradation of ballast under cyclic loading. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 142, 04016016 (2016)
Singh, R.P., Nimbalkar, S., Singh, S., Choudhury, D.: Field assessment of railway ballast degradation and mitigation using geotextile. Geotext. Geomembr. 48(3), 275–283 (2019)
Gu, Q., Zhao, C., Bian, X., Morrissey, J.P., Ooi, J.Y.: Trackbed settlement and associated ballast degradation due to repeated train moving loads. Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 153, 107109 (2022)
Anderson, W.F., Fair, P.: Behavior of railroad ballast under monotonic and cyclic loading. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 134, 316–327 (2008)
Sun, Y., Zheng, C.: Breakage and shape analysis of ballast aggregates with different size distributions. Particuology 35, 84–92 (2017)
Marsal, R.J.: Large scale testing of rockfill materials. J. Soil Mech. Found. Div. 93, 27–43 (1967)
Ahmed, S., Harkness, J., Le Pen, L., Powrie, W., Zervos, A.: Numerical modelling of railway ballast at the particle scale. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 40, 713–737 (2015)
Ngo, N., Indraratna, B., Rujikiatkamjorn, C., Mahdi Biabani, M.: Experimental and discrete element modeling of geocell-stabilized subballast subjected to cyclic loading. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 142, 04015100 (2016)
Li, H., McDowell, G.R.: Discrete element modelling of under sleeper pads using a box test. Granul. Matter 20, 26 (2018)
Li, L., Nimbalkar, S., Zhong, R.: Finite element model of ballasted railway with infinite boundaries considering effects of moving train loads and Rayleigh waves. Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 114, 147–153 (2018)
Suhr, B., Six, K.: Simple particle shapes for DEM simulations of railway ballast: influence of shape descriptors on packing behaviour. Granul. Matter 22, 43 (2020)
Liu, Y., Gao, R., Chen, J.: A new DEM model to simulate the abrasion behavior of irregularly-shaped coarse granular aggregates. Granul. Matter 23, 61 (2021)
Chen, J., Vinod, J.S., Indraratna, B., Ngo, T., Liu, Y.: DEM study on the dynamic responses of a ballasted track under moving loading. Comput. Geotech. 153, 105105 (2023)
Tolomeo, M., McDowell, G.R.: DEM study of an “avatar” railway ballast with real particle shape, fabric and contact mechanics. Granular Matter 25, 32 (2023)
Cundall, P.A., Strack, O.D.L.: A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies. Géotechnique 29, 47–65 (1979)
Thornton, C.: Numerical simulations of deviatoric shear deformation of granular media. Géotechnique 50(1), 43–53 (2000)
Minh, N.H., Cheng, Y.P., Thornton, C.: Strong force networks in granular mixtures. Granular Matter 16, 69–78 (2014)
Potyondy, D.O., Cundall, P.A.: A bonded-particle model for rock. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 41, 1329–1364 (2004)
Lim, W.L., McDowell, G.R.: Discrete element modelling of railway ballast. Granul. Matter 7, 19–29 (2005)
McDowell, G.R., Li, H.: Discrete element modelling of scaled railway ballast under triaxial conditions. Granul. Matter 18, 1–10 (2016)
Qu, T., Feng, Y.T., Wang, Y., Wang, M.: Discrete element modelling of flexible membrane boundaries for triaxial tests. Comput. Geotech. 115, 103154 (2019)
de Bono, J., Mcdowell, G., Wanatowski, D.: Discrete element modelling of a flexible membrane for triaxial testing of granular material at high pressures. Geotech. Lett. 2, 199–203 (2012)
Indraratna, B., Ngo, T., Rujikiatkamjorn, C.: Performance of ballast influenced by deformation and degradation: laboratory testing and numerical modeling. Int. J. Geomech. 20, 04019138 (2020)
Indraratna, B., Ionescu, D., Christie, H.: Shear behavior of railway ballast based on large-scale triaxial tests. J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 124, 439–449 (1998)
Lu, M., McDowell, G.R.: Discrete element modelling of railway ballast under monotonic and cyclic triaxial loading. Géotechnique 60(6), 459–467 (2010)
Itasca, Itasca’s FLAC3D Documentation, in: Itasca (Ed.), 2019
Lackenby, J., Indraratna, B., Mcdowell, G.R., et al.: Effect of confining pressure on ballast degradation and deformation under cyclic triaxial loading. Geotechnique 57, 6 (2007)
Pinzón, G., Andò, E., Desrues, J., Viggiani, G.: Fabric evolution and strain localisation in inherently anisotropic specimens of anisometric particles (lentils) under triaxial compression. Granul. Matter 25, 15 (2023)
Liao, D., Yang, Z.X.: Effect of fabric anisotropy on bearing capacity and failure mode of strip footing on sand: an anisotropic model perspective. Comput. Geotech. 138, 104330 (2021)
Liao, D., Yang, Z.X., Xu, T.T.: J2-deformation-type soil model coupled with state-dependent dilatancy and fabric evolution: multiaxial formulation and FEM implementation. Comput. Geotech. 129, 103674 (2021)
Xiao, Y., Yuan, Z., Lv, Y., Wang, L., Liu, H.: Fractal crushing of carbonate and quartz sands along the specimen height under impact loading. Construct. Build. Mater. 182, 188–199 (2018)
Funding
This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 523040511, Grant No. 51708438, Grant No. 523025011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no known conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, C., Wu, Dk., Sun, Y. et al. Macro-and-micromechanical responses of ballast under triaxial shearing using coupled DEM–FDM with flexible and rigid membranes: a comparative study. Granular Matter 26, 42 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-024-01412-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-024-01412-8