Abstract
Construction issues of high-speed rail infrastructures have been increasingly concerned worldwide, of which the subgrade settlement in soft soil area becomes a particularly critical problem. Due to the high compressibility and low permeability of soft soil, the post-construction settlement of the subgrade is extremely difficult to control in these regions, which seriously threatens the operation safety of high-speed trains. In this work, the significant issues of high-speed railway subgrades in soft soil regions are discussed. The theoretical and experimental studies on foundation treatment methods for ballasted and ballastless tracks are reviewed. The settlement evolution and the settlement control effect of different treatment methods are highlighted. Control technologies of subgrade differential settlement are subsequently briefly presented. Settlement calculation algorithms of foundations reinforced by different treatment methods are discussed in detail. The defects of existing prediction methods and the challenges faced in their practical applications are analyzed. Furthermore, the guidance on future improvement in control theories and technologies of subgrade settlement for high-speed railway lines and the corresponding challenges are provided.
Highlights
The construction of high-speed railway tracks especially those throughout Europe, East Asia and North America has been growing rapidly over the last decade, as they aim to improve the capacity, availability and carbon footprints of national infrastructures
To guarantee the operation safety of high-speed trains and the ride comfort of passengers, the criterion on the post-construction settlement [1] of the track infrastructure becomes more and more strict, which poses severe challenges to life cycle design theories and construction technologies of high-speed rail infrastructures. These challenges are more complicated for the constructions in soft soils with high compressibility, since the post-construction settlement control is difficult in these regions
For the soft soil foundation reinforced by drainage consolidation methods, the post-construction subgrade settlement can be calculated by utilizing the consolidation theory, while the composite modulus method is usually employed to predict the post-construction settlement of the composite foundation with flexible columns
Summary
The construction of high-speed railway tracks especially those throughout Europe, East Asia and North America has been growing rapidly over the last decade, as they aim to improve the capacity, availability and carbon footprints of national infrastructures. To guarantee the operation safety of high-speed trains and the ride comfort of passengers, the criterion on the post-construction settlement [1] of the track infrastructure becomes more and more strict, which poses severe challenges to life cycle design theories and construction technologies of high-speed rail infrastructures. These challenges are more complicated for the constructions in soft soils with high compressibility, since the post-construction settlement control is difficult in these regions.
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