Modeling of pore pressure in a railway embankment

Abstract: LKAB and Trafikverket want to increase the maximum allowed axial load from 30 tons to 32,5 tons for the northern part of Malmbanan. There are ongoing investigations of the condition of the railway with the current axial load of 30 tons. The investigations do not include one of Trafikverket's concerns about the condition of the railway. That question is how the periodical load from trains affect the stability and maintenance cost of the railway embankment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to do a preliminary investigation of how the excess pore pressure is developed in the railway embankment during periodical loading and an attempt to model it the help of PLAXIS2D, a finite element software. PLAXIS2D has been used to model a simplified section of section km 1449+820 that is subjected by periodical loading with an axial load of 30 tons. There are 6 created models in the thesis where model 2-6 origin from model 1 but with some minor changes. The changes between the models are the train speed, groundwater level, width of the embankment and load. The periodical load applied in all models has been assumed to load the embankment with a periodical shape of a sinus curve. From the models, the distribution of the effective stress and excess pore pressure have been measured. The total displacement and the magnitude of excess pore pressure in different measuring points in the embankment have also been measured. These results have been used to analyze why there are certain points in the embankment which accumulate excess pore pressure. In the models, measuring points have also been created beneath the sleeper and in the embankment toe where total displacement and effective stress have been measured to relate and see if the response in stress and displacements are trustworthy. It was concluded that accumulation of excess pore pressure is relative high in the embankment toe due to the stress distribution and slope stability. The embankment is developing large shear stresses in the embankment toe to resist against slope failure. The excess pore pressure is recommended to be measured in the embankment toe, but it is also recommended to develop the model further since it does not consider any dynamics and neither soil stiffening or soil softening which limit the possibility to analyze liquefaction in detail.