Mud pumping under rail tracks: from Micromechanics to Predictions

在澳大利亚和世界范围内，铁路轨道下的泥浆泵送被认为是导致铁路轨道退化和增加其持续维护成本的最常见问题。该项目旨在进一步了解不同尺度的泥浆泵送机制。将开发一种新的实验-计算相结合的方法来观察、分析和联系不同的材料特性和控制泥浆泵送过程的外部条件。这将为泥浆泵送提供更好的标准，并为现场规模的失效分析和风险评估提供数值工具。预期的结果包括提高评估铁路轨道完整性和稳定性的能力，以及改善防止泥浆泵送的设计标准。

Mud pumping under rail tracks is identified as the most frequent issue causing the degradation of rail tracks and increasing their ongoing maintenance cost across Australia and worldwide. This project aims to further the understanding of mud pumping mechanisms across different scales. A novel combined experiment-computational approach will be developed to observe, analyse and link different material properties and external conditions governing the mud pumping process. It will lead to better criteria for mud pumping and numerical tools for field scale failure analysis and risk assessments. The expected outcomes include the enhanced capability to assess the integrity and stability of rail tracks and better design criteria against mud pumping.