Vertical Deformation and Ballast Abrasion Characteristics of Asphalt-Scrap Rubber Track Bed

Abstract

Innovations in the field of railroad construction need to be improved, especially in the ballast layer which is an essential structure in conventional railways. The purpose of this study was to analyse the characteristics of vertical deformation and ballast material abrasion with 10% of scrap rubber in two types of sizes (uniform and graded) and with 3% of asphalt. This study uses a compressive test method with six types of samples modeled with ballast boxes measuring 400 x 300 x 200 mm. The test results present that the use of 10% scrap rubber can increase the vertical deformation value significantly to 84%. On the other hand, the use of 3% asphalt can minimize vertical deformation to only 14% because asphalt can increase the ballast layer stiffness. Furthermore, it can also be concluded that in general, the use of 10% scrap rubber and 3% asphalt can reduce the percentage of material abrasion up to 80%. Besides, it also can be known that the use of graded sized scrap rubber material is the most effective in increasing material durability. Scrap rubber and asphalt have the potential to be used together on ballast layers which are expected to be a solution of the problems related to the service-life and ballast maintenance work.