Use of Tyre-Derived Aggregate as Backfill Material for Wave Barriers to Mitigate Railway-Induced Ground Vibrations

Abstract

The use of piles as barriers to mitigate vibrations from rail traffic has been increasing in theoretical and practical engineering during the last years. Tyre-derived aggregate (TDA) is a recycled material with some interesting applications in civil engineering, including those related to railway engineering. As a novelty, this paper combines the concept of pile wave barriers and TDA material and investigates the mitigation effect of pile barriers made of TDA on the vibrations transmitted by rail traffic. This solution has a dual purpose: the reduction of railway vibrations and the recycling of a highly polluting material. The mitigation potential of this material when used as backfill for piles is analysed using a numerical scheme based on a 3D finite-difference numerical model formulated in the space/time domain, which is also experimentally validated in this paper in a real case without pile barriers. The numerical results show insertion loss (IL) values of up to 11 dB for a depth closed to the wavelength of Rayleigh wave. Finally, this solution is compared with more common backfills, such as concrete and steel tubular piles, showing that the TDA pile is a less effective measure although from an environmental and engineering point of view it is a very competitive solution.

Evaluation of the Shear Strength Behavior of TDA Mixed with Fine and Coarse Aggregates for Backfilling around Buried Structures

“…TDA and soil-TDA mixtures have been used for many years in geotechnical engineering applications. Such mixtures can be used as lightweight embankment fill, retaining wall backfill, backfill above and around buried pipes, culverts and cut-and-cover tunnels, underneath shallow foundations or as landfill drainage layers, and in vibration control applications, among several other civil engineering applications [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Pure TDA fill up to 3 m in thickness can be used without leading to internal heating problems [6].…”

Predicting Railway Track Displacements With the Hardening Soil Small Strain Model Near Critical Speed

“…4 and as can be seen it corresponds to a symmetric case, so that only half of it has been modeled. The dimensions of the model are 70x40x30 m in the longitudinal, horizontal and vertical directions respectively, which are values considered and experimentally validated in 3D models of finite elements formulated in the time domain similar to those used here [16,[18][19][20][21]. The railpad is modeled as a linear spring, whereas the rail has been simulated as a beam, with the normalized properties of the UIC-60 type.…”