Abstract
Traditional ballasted tracks have been used intensively around the world with ballast as the main material for tracks. Ballast has a significant contribution to the track alignment, stability and sustainability. After service, ballast deforms and degrades. Periodic ballast maintenance is needed which is a time and cost expensive activity. Understanding the mechanical behaviour of railroad ballast leads to better design and efficient maintenance. From the literature, there are two main approaches used to understand the mechanical behaviour of railroad ballast; large scale experimental and modelling. This paper aims to review the state of the art of literature on the modelling approaches used to understand ballast mechanical behaviour. It discusses the key findings from each modelling approach in understanding ballast mechanical behavior. It presents the main concerns and limitations of each modelling approach from different perspectives related to ballast modelling. It summarizes the limitations, gaps and gaps’ developments of the researches used to understand ballast behaviour via modelling approach.
Highlights
The main role of a railway is to provide a mean to transfer people and/or goods between stations in a safe and sustainable way
This review paper aims to review the literature on understanding the mechanical behaviour of railroad ballast using modelling approach
Analytical modelling dose not contribute to the microscopic understanding of the mechanical behaviour of railroad ballast
Summary
The main role of a railway is to provide a mean to transfer people and/or goods between stations in a safe and sustainable way. A railway track is considered as the basic element of railway infrastructure. It provides a supportive platform to transfer train loads to the ground. There are two main systems of railway tracks; ballasted and ballastless systems [1]. The low cost and higher experience of ballasted tracks are the main reasons of the large number of ballasted tracks worldwide with relative to ballastless tracks [2]. Ballasted tracks have been introduced first to railways while ballastless tracks have been introduced in the 1960s [3]
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