Effects of Water Content on the Dynamic Response of the Railway Cut Slope Subjected to Heavy-Haul Trains Cyclic Loading

Abstract

Investigating the relationship between water contents and the dynamic response of soil cut slopes under the action of train loading is beneficial to slope safety assessment. The effect of water contents on dynamic response characteristics and the potential failure mechanism of the slope under cyclic loading was investigated using geotechnical model tests and numerical calculations. It was found that a slope with higher water content showed a larger vibration intensity. The main effect of heavy-haul train loading on the slope was always concentrated in the slope foot or the shallow depths. As the propagation distance increased, the far-field vibration was mainly low frequency. Dynamic stress from the train loading was much larger close to the slope foot, and it was prone to forming a localized low-reliability zone with higher water content at an early time. As the water content increased, the development scope of the potential sliding surface tended to extend into the slope, which can lead to slope failure ahead. Also, the shear strain increment caused by two passing trains was more than that by a single passing train, which showed no obvious periodicity with random fluctuations significantly. In addition, a dynamic strength reduction method to calculate the safety factor of the soil slope under train cyclic loading is proposed to evaluate the slope stability better.