Mechanical properties of lightweight foam concrete filler for roadbed of high-speed railway

Abstract

A high-speed railway has high requirements for line smoothness, and uneven settlement control is the primary factor considered in the design and operation of the subgrade. The emergence of lightweight subgrade structures meets the needs of the development of the high-speed railway. As a kind of filling material with good performance, lightweight foam concrete can effectively reduce the load and excessive settlement of subgrade and effectively reduce the cost of foundation treatment. This paper studied the dynamic characteristics of lightweight foam concrete with different wet densities and water-bearing states under train loading. The effects of wet density and fly ash content on the compressibility, impermeability, and frost resistance of lightweight foam concrete were analyzed in detail. The results show that the lightweight foam concrete still has high residual strength after compression, which is about 60% of its peak strength. Under different mix ratios, the critical dynamic stress of the lightweight foam concrete is generally 0.2–0.3 times the unconfined compressive strength, and the dynamic elastic modulus increases with the increase of wet density and cyclic stress amplitude. With the fly ash content increasing, the volume water absorption of lightweight foam concrete decreases first and then increases, and the critical value of fly ash content is 40%. The frost resistance of lightweight foam concrete gradually increases with the increase of wet density, and the dynamic elastic modulus of the sample with 279 kg·m−3 density lost 41.1% after 20 freeze–thaw cycles. When the content of fly ash is 20%, the frost resistance of lightweight foam concrete is equivalent to that of pure cement.