Impact of train vibration on physical and mechanical properties of epoxy asphalt concrete in the road-railway bridge

Abstract

In the road-railway bridge (RRB) reconstruction, the significant train-induced vibration excitation poses a potential risk to the epoxy asphalt concrete (EAC) during the paving process on the road deck bridge. This paper aimed to investigate the effect of train-induced vibration on the physical and mechanical behaviors of EAC paving on the road bridge. In the following study, we determined the typical vibration condition refer to the vibration load obtained by in-situ monitoring, designed and conducted a series of indoor tests to explore the impacts of train-induced vibration on the mixture segregation, Marshall stability (MS), immersion MS, and dynamic stability (DS) of EAC by using a self-developed vibration simulation device (SVSD). The results confirm that EAC shows obvious segregation under the train-induced vibration and then declined the Marshall stability (MS) and uniformity of mixture. The initial MS decreases by 9.4%, ultimate MS by 4.9%. Frequency and duration are the major factors. Train-induced vibration could only impact the physical properties of EAC, but the chemical cured, thus EAC still retains high performances under the disturbance. It is found that EAC is vulnerable at the initial stage of paving construction, so the breakdown rolling process should be conducted immediately to reduce the vibration impact in the field. In the aspect of material design, a rapid-curved EAC is expected better under the train-induced vibration.