01.05.06
Tensar International research findings
Tensar International has announced the findings of a major £265,000 research programme carried out over the past 3 years.
The research was funded by a Royal Society Award awarded to a research team headed by Professor Stephen Brown at the University of Nottingham and including geogrid specialist Tensar International, consultant Scott Wilson Pavement Engineering and Contractor Carillion Rail. Network Rail was also involved on the project’s Steering Group.
The results included the identification of optimum geogrid characteristics for a rail ballast reinforcement. The University’s full scale Railway Test Facility showed a minimum threefold increase in the maintenance life of ballast placed over a poor formation when reinforced with the most appropriate geogrid.
The research Steering Group had identified a suitable live site for monitoring at Coppull Moor, Lancashire on the West Coast Main Line which required renewal. This was selected because the formation was poor and consistent over a reasonable length and there was plenty of historical performance monitoring the data.
The findings showed a significant improvement in track geometry over a period of many months of a reinforced ballast 1.4 mile section compared with an un-reinforced control section.
Vertical track settlement standard deviations were regularly monitored using a High Speed Track Recording Coach (HSTRC) and these have shown the rate of deterioration on the reinforced section to be reduced by a factor of about 3.5.
John Dixon, Tensar’s Special Projects Engineer, commented, “Until recently the performance of geogrid reinforced tracked over poor formation has been known but mainly through anecdotal and qualitative feedback. This recent research has provided positive quantitative data to help Permanent Way Engineers address problems associated with both new lines and track renewals over poor formulation. This, together with a growing client awareness of whole life costing should facilitate significant growth in the market trackbed reinforcement.”
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