Stress–dilatancy relationship for railway ballast

Abstract

Knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of ballast is very important for designing a railway track, especially for high-speed lines. The monotonic drained triaxial tests of scaled and fouled ballast presented in literature were analysed using the Frictional State Theory. The stress–plastic dilatancy relationship shows that four characteristic stages of shearing may be specified. The influence of stress level and water content may be quantified by the use of the Frictional State Theory.

Keywords

• railway ballast
• critical state
• frictional state
• dilatancy