Stability of Railway Embankment in Saturated and Unsaturated Conditions

Abstract

Slope failure is a vital issue in civil engineering infrastructures. Besides, climate change implications made this problem more critical. Therefore, in this study, a railway embankment’s slope stability has been studied in saturated and unsaturated conditions. The soil sample was collected from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru. The necessary and required data obtained through lab experiments. The obtained data from lab experiments then used in Seep/W and Slope/W to model the railway embankment numerically. The results obtained from this study indicate that rainfall infiltration plays a vital role in the safety factor value. The obtained results also depicted that both rainfall intensity and duration play an important role in slope stability. The factor of safety showed a declining pattern with increasing rainfall and duration of rainfall. The safety factor decrement occurred since the matric suction was reduced (negative pore water pressure) by rainfall infiltration. Besides, the safety factor decrease was more acute when train load was applied in a rainy period. Thus, it is suggested that in a long period of rainy time, the railway authorities should stop the train operation, or the embankment stability should be increased using some stabilizations methods in the planning and designing stage.