The improvement of the dynamic behavior of railway bridge transition zone using furnace slag reinforcement: A numerical and experimental study

Transition zones between railway tracks and bridge decks can cause higher dynamic impacts. A solution is smoothly changing the track stiffness by gradually mixing steel furnace slag into the stone ballast. A nominated bridge transition zone is divided into 5 blocks of 7 meters long, with the mixing percentages of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. The mechanical behaviors of furnace slag-ballast combinations (FS-BCs) were studied using experiments of shear strength test, Los Angles abrasion index and plate load test. Furthermore, the dynamic behavior of bridge transition zone with FS-BCs blocks was investigated using a field validated FEM model. Results show that the 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% furnace slag by weight of ballast can increase the shear strength and ballast layer bending modulus by 13%, 12%, 9% and 7% at speed of 300 km/h compared with those of the stone ballast. The FEM study shows that rail deflections are reduced about 20%, 14%, 21% and 16% at speed of 300 km/h corresponding to 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% FS-BCs and accelerations are significantly reduced as well as increasing FS content of each block in bridge transition zone so that a smooth bridge transition zone can be achieved.