Evaluation of Indirect Tensile Strength of Track Ballast Using Weibull Statistics

Abstract

Iraq is planning to expand and rehabilitate its current railway network, thus demanding huge amounts of proper ballast material. There are three common quarries in Iraq, Sinjaar in the northern sector, Al-Qaim in western desert and Najaf-sea in the middle and southern parts of Iraq. The selection of proper track ballast material is of prime importance in design and construction of railway projects. The single particle-crushing test is a simple indirect tensile test that provides useful data for the selection of the material. Two types of railway ballast materials from (Najaf-sea and Al-Qaim) quarries are commonly used in the construction of railway in Iraq. The single particle-crushing test was performed for various ballast sizes, and the obtained data were analyzed using Weibull analysis. Najaf-sea crushed stones indicate higher tensile strength for all particle sizes compared to corresponding particle sizes of Al-Qaim crushed stone. In addition, an inverse linear relationship had obtained, between tensile strength and particle size with R2 (0.837 and 0.979) for Al-Qaim and Najaf-sea crushed stone, respectively, such relationships are important in evaluating the suitability of the materials in terms of the survival probability