Professional Documents
Culture Documents
JRC2013
April 15-18, 2013, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
JRC2013-2498
Michael L. Kerr
AMEC Environment &
Infrastructure, Inc.
Nashville, Tennessee, United
States
Bernard Voor, PE
AMEC Earth and Environmental
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Arthur D. Pengelly
Hayward Baker Inc. Rail
Services Division
Little Elm, Texas, United States
ABSTRACT
The authors of the paper represent two firms that have
completed hundreds of challenging subgrade and foundation
projects for the rail industry. The intent of this paper is to
educate the railroad business in general about alternative
approaches to common geotechnical problems facing the
railroad industry.
Projects have been completed across the country in nearly
all geological conditions, on all of the Class I carriers,
Shortlines and Mass Transit systems. Successful remediation
projects associated with challenging subsurface conditions
across the United States, Canada and Mexico are covered. Case
histories include jet grouting for low headroom earth retention
and tunnel support, stone columns for embankment support,
micropiles for low headroom bridge replacement, micropiles
and soil nails for earth retention, compaction, and urethane
grouting for settlement of existing structures. Projects discussed
include background information such as project layout,
drawings and test results. Each project is completed and has a
positive track record, indicating success. Projects have been
specially selected to demonstrate the ability of specialty
foundation solutions applicable throughout North America.
Each topic provides technically sound approaches to age-old
Rail road subsurface challenges. Many of these topics are not
addressed in the AREMA manual; however, one of the authors,
is currently addressing these topics through a proposed section
of AREMA chapter 8.
INTRODUCTION
Class One and Shortline RailRoads face a variety of
subsurface problems on a routine basis. Many of these issues
cranes to handle and drive the pile. This method works well if
there are no overhead restrictions such as electrical
transmission lines. Other restrictions such as property
limitations or uncooperative adjacent property owners can
restrict the use of heavy equipment as well. Using micropile
techniques, the railroad and its contractors are able to construct
retaining walls in low head room locations and areas with
little right-of-way.
SOIL NAILING
Soil nailing is an earth retention technique that is
performed using grouted tension-resisting steel elements (nails)
that can be designed for either permanent or temporary support.
The walls are generally constructed from the top down using
the following method. Typically, 4 to 6 feet of soil is excavated
from the top of the planned excavation. The holes for the nails
are then drilled on a 10 to 20 degree batter from horizontal into
the face of the excavation. After drilling, the steel bars are
inserted into the holes and grouted into place. After the nails
have been installed on 3 to 6 foot centers, a drainage system is
installed which usually consists of 24 to 36-inch-wide drainage
mats. Following this, reinforcing steel and/or wire mesh is
placed on the wall face and shotcrete is then applied to connect
the nails to the face of the wall. After the shotcrete is complete,
plates and nuts are placed on the bars. At this point the lift is
complete and the next lift can be excavated. The process is
repeated until the design excavation depth is reached. Soil nail
and shotcrete construction is limited to soils that can stand up
long enough so that drilling and shooting operations can take
place without sloughing of the soils. In stiff clays this systems
can provide an economical earth retention system.(FHWA
Manual for Design and construction of Soil Nails). Soil nail
systems, as with any earth retention design require geotechnical
data to be completed safely and efficiently.
Railroads often discount the use of soil nailing in favor of
more traditional soldier piles or sheet piles when soil nailing is
often less expensive and can be installed in the same or less
time and without headroom constraints. When used as a
permanent wall, soil nailing can also be finished out to appear
as a cast-in-place wall or textured to resemble natural rock
which is advantageous when aesthetics are important.
25
Varies,
min.
Varies
15
12
1
5
Vibro Stone Column, Typ. 30
Diameter
Figure 8 Typical cross section showing stone columns supporting T Wall, near
existing tracks.
geotechnical investigation indicated that subsurface soils along
the planned T wall-supported grade separation consisted of
collapsible soils which would result in excessive settlement of
the retaining wall if not densified prior to construction.
The geotechnical engineer recommended a ground
improvement program consisting of Vibro Replacement Stone
Columns (VRSC) to achieve the specified densification of the
collapsible soils (Figure 8). The specifications provided a
minimum post ground improvement blow count to be achieved.
VRSC utilized an electric vibrator to densify aggregate placed
below grade into a predrilled hole. The down hole vibrator was
equipped with a bottom feed system that ensures that each
stone columns is constructed to the design diameter. The
amperage on the vibrator is monitored to provide additional
quality control on the results of the ground improvement
program. The electric vibrator can also improve the
surrounding soils, if those soils consist of clean non-cohesive
material, as was the case on this project. Improvement of the
surrounding soils can result in a reduction of liquefaction
potential. VRSC have been utilized on thousands of projects
across the United States to reduce settlement and provide
additional factor of safety again global instability (Elias, et al,
2006).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MARTA, Union Pacific RR, BNSF RR, CSX RR
REFERENCES
Elias, V., Welsh, J., Warren, J., Lukas, R., Collin, J.G., and
Berg, R.R. (2006a). Ground Improvement Methods Reference
Manual, Federal Highway Administration FHWA NHI-06-019,
August 2006.
Manual for Design and Construction of Soil Nails, FHWASA-96-069R, Published 1999, PB99-146862