Laboratory measurements of dispersed soils as construction materials for railway embankments

Abstract

Compacted construction sand - dispersed soil - is the main construction material for the construction of railway embankments. The supplier is obliged to present the main physico-mechanical properties of the building material not in free-flowing state, but in a compacted state, in which the material will work as part of railway embankments. A major problem in laboratory dispersed soil application tests is the inability to keep the specimen in its compacted state before placing it in a shear instrument or stabilisation meter. Hence, laboratory testing of dispersed soils can only be carried out in the bulk state and therefore the question of directly determining the physical and mechanical characteristics of building materials at their maximum density remains open. Methodology of direct testing of compacted samples in a single plane shear apparatus for determination of strength properties was developed and tested by the authors of the article, and also the methodology of determination of deformation properties by indirect way was suggested for preliminary evaluation of soil suitability as a building material for construction of railway embankments.