STUDY ON THE APPLICABILITY OF LIQUEFIED STABILIZED SOIL TO RAILWAY EMBANKMENTS

Abstract

 A liquefied stabilized soil (LSS) is a useful material for constructing embankments that needs execution in narrow space or rapid execution thanks to the characteristics of LSS, which have high strength and fluidity. But LSS is rarely applied to railway embankments because of limited knowledge on durability against cyclic train load and the effect of drying of LSS on strength and deformation characteristics. In this study, the authors propose a specification of the LSS for applying the part of the earth structure affected by the repeated train load based on FEM analysis. This study also clarifies the required strength and deformation characteristics of LSS as the railway embankments by conducting a series of laboratory tests and test construction. It is found from the study that LSS can behave stably against repeated train load by achieving sufficient density and stress ratio, which is the ratio of the unconfined compressive strength to the vertical stress acting on the surface of LSS. Laboratory tests and long-term monitoring of test constructed LSS also show that the construction of a protective layer above the LSS layer is highly effective in keeping the LSS in wet conditions and reducing the vertical stress acting on the surface of the LSS in the proposed specification.