Durability-Aimed Design Criteria of Cement-Stabilized Loess Subgrade for Railway

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 11; no. 11; p. 5061
• Main Authors: Wang, Fuyu, Pang, Weichen, Qin, Xingyuan, Han, Leilei, Jiang, Yingjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Cement; Construction; Cycles; Design criteria; Durability; Freeze-thawing; freeze–thaw cycling; Load; Loess; Railroads; Railway construction; Shear strain; Stability; strength; Trains; wet–dry cycling; China
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app11115061

The subgrade is the foundation of railway construction, so its strength and stability are very important to ensure the safety and stability of a train. Loess is widely distributed in northwestern China, and it must be stabilized before being used in railway subgrade construction because loess is sensitive to water. Railway subgrade withstands not only the train load but also repeated attacks from the environment and climate because it has to be exposed to natural environment after construction. Therefore, the strength of cement-stabilized loess deteriorates continuously because of the above factors. Taking account of long-term stability, the influences of load on the cement-stabilized loess as well as the strength reduction laws of cement-stabilized loess under wet–dry cycling and freeze–thaw cycling were analyzed in this study. Additionally, the respective reduction coefficients were obtained. Finally, the strength design criteria of cement-stabilized loess subgrade were put forward based on railway subgrade durability by analyzing the obtained reduction coefficients and the critical dynamic strength of railway subgrade.