Research into the strength of railway embankments
Last Sunday, a train derailed in Germany due to a landslide caused by heavy rainfall. Three people were killed and dozens were injured. This raises the question: could something like this happen in the Netherlands? And how can we gain a better understanding of the current condition of railway embankments in order to prevent such accidents as much as possible?
RESET programme
To answer these questions, Deltares is conducting research into the stability of railway embankments on behalf of ProRail. This is being done within the RESET programme (Research Embankments for Safe Expansion of Train Traffic), in which we are working together with Delft University of Technology to specifically examine the strength of the subsoil of railway embankments. Conditions such as extreme weather play an important role in this, because the amount of water in the subsoil determines the stability of railway embankments.
Tests in the Deltares GeoCentrifuge
As part of RESET, Deltares is conducting a series of tests in the GeoCentrifuge, a unique geotechnical test facility. In this centrifuge, scale models of railway embankments are exposed to heavy forces to investigate when subsidence or displacement occurs. A total of seven to eight tests are being carried out, each time adjusting one parameter such as the composition of the subsoil, the load conditions and the geometry. The tests will continue until the end of August.
‘We are curious about the strength of the railway track and the subsoil,’ says Harm Aantjes, geotechnical expert at Deltares. ‘In the GeoCentrifuge, you can let things fail to understand how it works. In reality, you want to prevent things from going wrong.’
Scaled railway embankment
The GeoCentrifuge is a unique geotechnical testing facility that can generate up to 150 g. For the railway embankment research, we are working with forces of around 50 g. The GeoCentrifuge makes it possible to test scale models that behave like the actual scale under all conditions. "This means that a scaled railway embankment of, say, 10 cm high will behave like a real 5-metre-high embankment at 50 g.
The GeoCentrifuge allows large practical situations to be simulated relatively quickly and cost-effectively. This makes it possible to test the conditions under which railway embankments fail without having to do so in the field, which is costly and undesirable. With the insights gained from these tests, computer model simulations, and the knowledge and experience of Deltares experts, we are developing new methods and guidelines for assessing the stability of railway embankments.
Video
The video shows one of our GeoCentrifuge experiments, in which embankment failure mechanisms are simulated under controlled conditions for a highly accurate analysis.
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Preparing for extreme weather
The results will help ProRail in the short term to make decisions about whether to reinforce vulnerable railway embankments and whether to allow heavier trains, higher train frequencies or higher speeds.
The insights are also relevant for better preparing the railways for extreme weather, although additional research is needed in this area. In this way, we are working together to ensure the safety and efficient deployment of the Dutch railway network.
