Ground Improvement
Whenever a paved or unpaved road needs to be built on soft or saturated soil, settlement may take place during or after construction, with serious consequences for the life span of the road. The base layer, made-up from granular material, can sink into the foundation soil, and horizontal and vertical movement capable of forming ruts can occur at the base. To avoid these phenomena, it’s necessary to place one or more layers of reinforcing geogrids having the ability to confine the aggregate and distribute the load. Geosynthetics allow for the reduction in the thickness of the base layer and they increase the service life of the structure whilst utilizing lower grade fill material. The use of a TENAX LBO geogrid and/or TENAX 3D Grids three-dimensional geogrids minimizes the horizontal deformation of the aggregate base layer, limiting its deterioration and conserving its thickness.
The repeated rapid passage of trains in very brief intervals of time, apply dynamic loads to the soil resulting in very intense compression and decompression cycles.
Thus railway foundations are being subject to constant fatigue stress leading to frequent and expensive maintenance requirements. Although these maintenance costs are high, by far the most expensive cost factor is the reduction in revenue caused by the disrupted services. The use of geogrids in ground stabilisation allows the overall construction depth to be reduced. This saving on materials and excavation also provides safe working platforms that meet economic and environmental constraints. By incorporating TENAX RailGrid (LBO 370) within railway construction layers, it is possible to combine major cost savings with considerable performance benefits at both the ballast and sub-ballast levels. When ballast or sub-ballast granular material is compacted over TENAX geogrids, stone particles partially enter the apertures of the grid and are eventually "locked-in" to create a strong and positive interlock along the plane of the geogrid.This locking mechanism enables the grid to resist horizontal movement of the stones which improves ballast performance and reduces railway ballast settlement.