Evaluating the Potential for Damaging Hydraulic Pressure in the Concrete Tie Rail Seat

Author(s):  
John C. Zeman ◽  
J. Riley Edwards ◽  
David A. Lange ◽  
Christopher P. L. Barkan

Rail seat deterioration (RSD) is the most critical problem with concrete tie performance on North American freight railroads. Currently, the problem is not sufficiently understood to allow for effective solutions. RSD is considered to have up to five potential mechanisms, and this paper investigates one of them: hydraulic pressure cracking. A model of the effective stress in a concrete tie rail seat — considering the contributions of a uniform vertical load, a uniform lateral load, a prestressed beam on an elastic foundation, and pore pressure to the state of stress — was created to determine what surface water pressures at the rail seat could lead to damaging pore water pressures in the concrete. A laboratory test setup and procedure were devised to measure the surface water pressure in a laboratory rail seat using tie pads of differing material composition and geometry. Results show that the magnitude of the pressure generated and the rate of pressure dissipation with many load cycles depends on the pad material and surface geometry. Comparing the effective stress model and the measured surface pressures, hydraulic pressure cracking appears to be a feasible mechanism for RSD given the correct combination of dynamic rail seat loads, sufficient moisture, and a tie pad surface that develops high pressure.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuangxin Lyu ◽  
Satoshi Nishimura ◽  
Seyed Ali Ghoreishian Amiri ◽  
Feng Zhu ◽  
Gudmund Reidar Eiksund ◽  
...  

AbstractA systematical testing program on frozen Onsøy clay under isotropic loading and undrained shearing at different temperatures (− 3 ~ − 10 °C), strain rates (0.2~5%/h) and initial Terzaghi effective stress (20~400 kPa) was conducted with the focus on pore pressure development. It is meant to increase the understanding and facilitate the development of an ‘effective stress’-based model for multi-physical analysis for frozen soils. This study adopted the pore pressure measurement method suggested by Arenson and Springman (Can Geotech J 42 (2):412–430, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1139/t04-111) and developed a new testing procedure for frozen soils, including a ‘slow’ freezing method for sample preparation and post-freezing consolidation for securing hydraulic pressure equilibrium. The B-value of frozen soils is less than 1 and significantly dependent on temperature and loading history. The dilative tendency or pore pressure development in an undrained shearing condition is found to be dependent on both unfrozen water content and mean stress, which is consistent with unfrozen soils. Besides, the experimental results reported in the literature regarding uniaxial tests show that the shear strength does not share the same temperature- and salinity-dependency for different frozen soil types. The rate dependency of frozen soils is characterized between rate dependency of pure ice and that of the unfrozen soil and is therefore highly determined by the content of ice and the viscous behavior of ice (through temperature dependency). This paper also explains the pore pressure response in freezing and thawing is dependent on volumetric evolution of soil skeleton.


2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1012-1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Illias Tsaparas ◽  
Harianto Rahardjo ◽  
David G Toll ◽  
Eng-Choon Leong

This paper presents the analysis of a 12 month long field study of the infiltration characteristics of two residual soil slopes in Singapore. The field measurements consist of rainfall data, runoff data of natural and simulated rainfall events, and pore-water pressure changes during infiltration at several depths and at several locations on the two slopes. The analysis of the field measurements identifies the total rainfall and the initial pore-water pressures within the two slopes as the controlling parameters for the changes in the pore-water pressures within the slopes during infiltration.Key words: infiltration, rainfall, runoff, pore-water pressure, field measurements.


1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
K. D. Eigenbrod ◽  
J. P. Burak

Anchor forces, ground temperatures, and piezometric pressures were measured at a retaining wall in northwestern Ontario over a period of 2 years. The anchor forces were measured with strain gauges attached in pairs directly to the anchor rods. This method appeared practical in the field for time periods of less than 2 years as long as the strain gauges were carefully protected against moisture. The anchor forces increased from an average of 5 kN initially up to values of 50 kN during the winter periods and dropped during the summer periods back to the same values measured initially. The anchor forces were largely independent of pore-water pressure variations behind the wall. Rapid drawdown conditions, however, which were experienced during the second summer, were reflected in a load increase that was equivalent to the associated unloading effect in front of the wall. The pore-water pressures behind the wall were not noticeably affected by rapid drawdown, possibly due to the restraining effect of the anchors and the high rigidity of the low sheet pile wall. Ground temperatures at or below the groundwater table never dropped below 0 °C thus restricting the depth of frost penetration. Key words : anchor loads, freezing pressure, retaining walls, pore-water pressures, ground temperatures, field measurements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanzhu Zhang ◽  
Siming Zhang ◽  
Gang Wei ◽  
Xinjiang Wei ◽  
Liqiao Jin ◽  
...  

In order to analyze the process of hydraulic water infiltrating cracked concrete of underwater tunnels, the equation of water transport in unsaturated cracked concrete under pressure was proposed according to the double-porosity medium model. Penetration tests on prefabricated cracked concrete blocks were conducted, and then the influence of hydraulic pressure, initial saturation, and crack width on water transport was studied. The results show that the larger the water pressure, the lower the initial saturation, and the wider the crack width, then the greater the penetration depth, which can be reasonably explained according to water motion theoretical models in this study. Moreover, the TOUGH2 software was used to simulate the change and distribution of saturation, driving potential, and water velocity of unsaturated cracked concrete, which further proved the experimental results and theoretical analysis. It reflects that both pressure potential and matric potential are the driving force of water transport in underwater cracked concrete, and the driving force will be converted with the change of concrete saturation. In addition, crack width is positively correlated with concrete permeability.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 981
Author(s):  
Woong Gi Lee ◽  
Younghyun Cho ◽  
Sang Wook Kang

To prepare a porous cellulose acetate (CA) for application as a battery separator, Cd(NO3)2·4H2O was utilized with water-pressure as an external physical force. When the CA was complexed with Cd(NO3)2·4H2O and exposed to external water-pressure, the water-flux through the CA was observed, indicating the generation of pores in the polymer. Furthermore, as the hydraulic pressure increased, the water-flux increased proportionally, indicating the possibility of control for the porosity and pore size. Surprisingly, the value above 250 LMH (L/m2h) observed at the ratio of 1:0.35 (mole ratio of CA: Cd(NO3)2·4H2O) was of higher flux than those of CA/other metal nitrate salts (Ni(NO3)2 and Mg(NO3)2) complexes. The higher value indicated that the larger and abundant pores were generated in the cellulose acetate at the same water-pressure. Thus, it could be thought that the Cd(NO3)2·4H2O salt played a role as a stronger plasticizer than the other metal nitrate salts such as Ni(NO3)2 and Mg(NO3)2. These results were attributable to the fact that the atomic radius and ionic radius of the Cd were largest among the three elements, resulting in the relatively larger Cd of the Cd(NO3)2 that could easily be dissociated into cations and NO3− ions. As a result, the free NO3− ions could be readily hydrated with water molecules, causing the plasticization effect on the chains of cellulose acetate. The coordinative interactions between the CA and Cd(NO3)2·4H2O were investigated by IR spectroscopy. The change of ionic species in Cd(NO3)2·4H2O was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Huang ◽  
Kejun Wen ◽  
Dongsheng Li ◽  
Xiaojia Deng ◽  
Lin Li ◽  
...  

The unloading creep behavior of soft soil under lateral unloading stress path and excess pore water pressure is the core problem of time-dependent analysis of surrounding rock deformation under excavation of soft soil. The soft soil in Shenzhen, China, was selected in this study. The triaxial unloading creep tests of soft soil under different initial excess pore water pressures (0, 20, 40, and 60 kPa) were conducted with the K0 consolidation and lateral unloading stress paths. The results show that the unloading creep of soft soil was divided into three stages: attenuation creep, constant velocity creep, and accelerated creep. The duration of creep failure is approximately 5 to 30 mins. The unloading creep behavior of soft soil is significantly affected by the deviatoric stress and time. The nonlinearity of unloading creep of soft soil is gradually enhanced with the increase of the deviatoric stress and time. The initial excess pore water pressure has an obvious weakening effect on the unloading creep of soft soil. Under the same deviatoric stress, the unloading creep of soft soil is more significant with the increase of initial excess pore water pressure. Under undrained conditions, the excess pore water pressure generally decreases during the lateral unloading process and drops sharply at the moment of unloading creep damage. The pore water pressure coefficients during the unloading process were 0.73–1.16, 0.26–1.08, and 0.35–0.96, respectively, corresponding to the initial excess pore water pressures of 20, 40, and 60 kPa.


1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (145) ◽  
pp. 495-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. Piotrowski ◽  
Anna M. Kraus

AbstractLaboratory tests on sediment over-ridden by the last ice sheet in north-western Germany reveal very low ice-induced pre-consolidation and high palaeo-pore-water pressures. Sediment consolidation at the base of the glacier was largely controlled by hydraulic properties of the substratum. Generally low permeabilities of the bed caused sustained high pore-water pressure in over-ridden sediments close to the flotation point. This implies a serious possibility of hydraulic lifting of the ice sheet. It is believed that the reduced basal coupling limited the transformation of glacier shear stress on to the bed sediments, which is indicated by a lack of sedimentological evidence for widespread pervasive bed deformation. Ice motion was probably focused at the glacier sole by some combination of sliding and ploughing. However, isolated spots with deformation occur, so that the subglacial system in the study area can be characterized as a stable/deforming mosaic.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 819-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed M. Morsy ◽  
D.H. Chan ◽  
N.R. Morgenstern

An effective stress constitutive model to study the problem numerically of creep in the field is presented. A double-yield surface model for the stress–strain–time behaviour of wet clay is described. The model adopts the concept of separating the total deformation into immediate and delayed components. The yield surfaces employed are the modified Cam-clay ellipsoid and the Von Mises cylinder inscribed in the ellipsoid. The proposed numerical scheme incorporates the pore pressure based on field observations into a finite element analysis. An interpolation technique is used to determine the pore pressure at every element. A field example is presented to illustrate the interpolation technique procedure. The scheme not only avoids the complexity of making predictions of pore-water pressure, but also allows the analysis to be carried out in terms of effective stresses based on the actual observed pore pressure. Two stress integration algorithms based on the implicit calculation of plastic strain are implemented and tested for the double-yield surface model. A numerical simulation of stress-controlled drained creep tests confirms the numerical procedure. Key words : constitutive equations, creep, finite element, stress integration algorithms, effective stress approach, pore-water pressure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerd Gudehus

AbstractWhile Terzaghi justified his principle of effective stress for water-saturated soil empirically, it can be derived by means of the neutrality of the mineral with respect to changes of the pore water pressure $$p_w$$ p w . This principle works also with dilating shear bands arising beyond critical points of saturated grain fabrics, and with patterns of shear bands as relics of critical phenomena. The shear strength of over-consolidated clay is explained without effective cohesion, which results also from swelling up to decay, while rapid shearing of water-saturated clay can lead to a cavitation of pore water. The $$p_w$$ p w -neutrality is also confirmed by triaxial tests with sandstone samples, while Biot’s relation with a reduction factor for $$p_w$$ p w is contestable. An effective stress tensor is heuristically legitimate also for soil and rock with relics of critical phenomena, particularly for critical points with a Mohr–Coulomb condition. Therein, the $$p_w$$ p w -neutrality of the solid mineral determines the interaction of solid fabric and pore water, but numerical models are questionable due to fractal features.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Folkes ◽  
J. H. A. Crooks

Current methods of predicting the response of soft clays to surface loading are often unsuccessful because the assumed constitutive relationships, including effective stress path behaviour, are incorrect. In particular, the transition from small-strain to large-strain behaviour (i.e. yielding) is frequently not taken into account. Recent laboratory testing has demonstrated that the behaviour of soft clays is largely controlled by yielding. The locus of effective stress states causing yield is known as the yield envelope (YE).The effective stress paths (ESP's) in soft clay foundations below the centre of six fills were determined from computed total stresses and measured pore-water pressures. Yield behaviour is clearly indicated by ESP shapes. The yield envelopes inferred from analyses of field data are similar to those obtained from laboratory testing. Effective stress path shapes vary widely, depending on a variety of factors, including imposed stress level, rate of construction, and boundary drainage conditions. This finding contradicts an earlier conclusion that soft clay behaviour can be characterized by a single ESP. Because of the wide range of possible ESP shapes, the parameters [Formula: see text] does not provide an adequate basis for determining the effective stress state in a soft clay.The ESP/YE analyses indicate that yield can occur either during loading or during excess pore-water pressure dissipation following completion of loading. Yield of sensitive soils during loading is usually followed by strain softening. However, in some soils, dilatant behaviour appears to occur. Yield during dissipation of excess pore-water pressure is characterized by a dramatic change in cv and increased compressibility. Key words: soft clay, yield, effective stress paths, field behaviour, strain softening, rate of consolidation.


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