Experimental Investigation of the Cyclic Behavior of Steel-Slag Ballast Mixed with Tire-Derived Aggregate

Abstract

In this study, the cyclic behavior of steel slag ballast materials mixed with tire-derived aggregate (TDA) is experimentally investigated. To this end, a series of ballast box tests are carried out to investigate the behavior of different mixtures of TDA-slag ballast materials with similar gradation to American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) 4. The TDA is mixed with the slag at different gradations and weight ratios to determine the optimum percentage. According to the test results, the settlement and damping ratio increase with the increase in the TDA percentage, whereas the breakage index and the stiffness of the ballast decrease. TDA of 10% by weight (16.5% by volume) is selected as the optimum percentage for the mixture based on the dynamic stiffness and damping ratio. The same set of tests were also performed on the punched TDA-slag ballast samples to study the effects of the TDA shape on the behavior of the ballast.