Assessment of Stability of Railway Abutment Using Geosynthetics

An approach section on an abutment is located between the soil embankment and the structure, which may cause an uneven surface due to different settlement between the abutment and the soil embankment. This study proposes a new type of wall which separates the abutment from the backfill material using mechanically stabilized wall. A new type of keystone which incorporates geotube and wire mesh is proposed and evaluated. Numerical analyses were performed to investigate the applicability of the proposed keystone type, which incorporates Geosynthetic. The maximum horizontal displacements along GRS wall faces, settlements at the top of pavement and track bed, and tensile forces applied on geotextiles under traffic loads were investigated. The results of the numerical analysis showed that the proposed wall can be used for highway and high-speed railway abutment.