Drainage of Road & Rail Embankments
To prevent pavement failure, you need to quickly remove migrating fluids through a drainage system engineered for the life of the structure
Drainage of railway tracks is essential to ensure acceptable track performance. The cost of maintenance or, conversely, the deterioration of track components, is directly impacted by the condition of the drainage system. Incorrect drainage and saturated soils may lead to premature failure of the ballast system with frequent maintenance operations.
Our Geocomposites solutions provides: a high degree of compressive stiffness to support traffic; rapid fluid transmission characteristics, equivalent to free-draining base; significant air void to provide a positive capillary break.
Our Geosynthetics also possesses high tensile strength and modulus, allowing it to provide base reinforcement and subgrade restraint in addition to drainage and separation. Our Geocomposite solutions are easy to install across the road section. For either paved or unpaved roads, for railway track beds, and in particular, for soft soils, our geocomposite drains can be installed between the foundation soil and the upper layer of inert material.
The geocomposite separates the two soils and avoids contamination between inert material and clay particles, preventing any accumulation of water and thus allowing for a well-drained and dry base having higher mechanical properties, design life and with no water inclusion and thus the road section is not frost susceptible.
Water in the track substructure originates from three potential sources i.e. - precipitation onto the track, surface flow from areas adjacent to the track and groundwater flow. A complete drainage system must include provisions for handling water from all three sources.
Precipitation onto the track will enter the ballast, it will then flow laterally out of the ballast into ditches or enter the sub ballast. This water will either drain laterally out of the sub ballast or continue downward into the subgrade. Subsurface drains (our geocomposite solutions) are needed to collect water flowing through the subgrade and may also be needed to help drain the sub ballast. Surface ditch drains can collect water from the ballast and sub ballast. It is difficult to maintain the proper drainage of water between adjacent tracks or from tracks surrounded on both sides by other tracks. Not only is the drainage path to the side longer, but a suitable drainage path is more difficult to maintain.
The use of a geocomposite drainage medium under the outer tracks or longitudinal drains between tracks is very often required.