{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97499"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97499","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Railway ballast permeability","abstract":"Railway ballast serves as a major structural and drainage component of railroad track, but is known to degrade over time. This progressive degradation increases the amount of finer particles within the ballast over time, called fouling material, which decreases its drainage capacity and strength. Railroads commonly remove the fouling material using ballast shoulder cleaners and undercutters, however, these are expensive operations that require large machines and trained personnel. If the track is allowed to degrade for too long, significant track geometry, drainage, and stability problems can arise, creating potentially very costly derailments. Nevertheless, the point at which the fouling material should be removed from the ballast, or cleaned, is still relatively undefined. This study serves to investigate the drainage component of railway ballast and provide insight into how its drainage capacity changes with fouling so that determining a ballast cleaning threshold can be further defined. Previous studies within the railway ballast and rock fill dam permeability areas are first reviewed and compared from which it was learned that the rock fill dam studies have known of non-Darcy flow in large aggregates while the railway ballast permeability studies have not. Constant head permeability tests were then conducted using the University of Illinois Constant Head Aggregate Permeameter on clean and fouled ballast providing results that show the flow through clean ballast can be on the order of fourteen times as high as that through fouled ballast and it displays a nonlinear discharge velocity versus hydraulic gradient relationship. As the ballast becomes more fouled, however, the relationship becomes linear. Finally the Fouling Index and Void Contaminant Index are compared with the permeability results demonstrating that the Void Contaminant Index is a superior parameter to describe ballast fouling. From these findings future study recommendations are given for specifically determining when to clean ballast.","abstract_html":"Railway ballast serves as a major structural and drainage component of railroad track, but is known to degrade over time. This progressive degradation increases the amount of finer particles within the ballast over time, called fouling material, which decreases its drainage capacity and strength. Railroads commonly remove the fouling material using ballast shoulder cleaners and undercutters, however, these are expensive operations that require large machines and trained personnel. If the track is allowed to degrade for too long, significant track geometry, drainage, and stability problems can arise, creating potentially very costly derailments. Nevertheless, the point at which the fouling material should be removed from the ballast, or cleaned, is still relatively undefined. This study serves to investigate the drainage component of railway ballast and provide insight into how its drainage capacity changes with fouling so that determining a ballast cleaning threshold can be further defined. Previous studies within the railway ballast and rock fill dam permeability areas are first reviewed and compared from which it was learned that the rock fill dam studies have known of non-Darcy flow in large aggregates while the railway ballast permeability studies have not. Constant head permeability tests were then conducted using the University of Illinois Constant Head Aggregate Permeameter on clean and fouled ballast providing results that show the flow through clean ballast can be on the order of fourteen times as high as that through fouled ballast and it displays a nonlinear discharge velocity versus hydraulic gradient relationship. As the ballast becomes more fouled, however, the relationship becomes linear. Finally the Fouling Index and Void Contaminant Index are compared with the permeability results demonstrating that the Void Contaminant Index is a superior parameter to describe ballast fouling. From these findings future study recommendations are given for specifically determining when to clean ballast.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schmidt, Scott R"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Civil Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Tutumluer, Erol"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-10T19:16:16Z","date_published":"2017-08-10T19:16:16Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z","subjects":["Railway ballast","Permeability"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Scott R. Schmidt"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97499","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Tutumluer, Erol"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Schmidt, Scott R"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-08-10T19:16:16Z","2017-04-28","2017-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Civil Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Railway ballast","Permeability"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Scott R. Schmidt"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97499"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Railway ballast serves as a major structural and drainage component of railroad track, but is known to degrade over time. This progressive degradation increases the amount of finer particles within the ballast over time, called fouling material, which decreases its drainage capacity and strength. Railroads commonly remove the fouling material using ballast shoulder cleaners and undercutters, however, these are expensive operations that require large machines and trained personnel. If the track is allowed to degrade for too long, significant track geometry, drainage, and stability problems can arise, creating potentially very costly derailments. Nevertheless, the point at which the fouling material should be removed from the ballast, or cleaned, is still relatively undefined. This study serves to investigate the drainage component of railway ballast and provide insight into how its drainage capacity changes with fouling so that determining a ballast cleaning threshold can be further defined. Previous studies within the railway ballast and rock fill dam permeability areas are first reviewed and compared from which it was learned that the rock fill dam studies have known of non-Darcy flow in large aggregates while the railway ballast permeability studies have not. Constant head permeability tests were then conducted using the University of Illinois Constant Head Aggregate Permeameter on clean and fouled ballast providing results that show the flow through clean ballast can be on the order of fourteen times as high as that through fouled ballast and it displays a nonlinear discharge velocity versus hydraulic gradient relationship. As the ballast becomes more fouled, however, the relationship becomes linear. Finally the Fouling Index and Void Contaminant Index are compared with the permeability results demonstrating that the Void Contaminant Index is a superior parameter to describe ballast fouling. From these findings future study recommendations are given for specifically determining when to clean ballast.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Scott Schmidt, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-26 at 16:17.","The student, Scott Schmidt, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-26 at 16:24.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-28 at 09:21.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11098 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:44","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 SCHMIDT-THESIS-2017.pdf: 5766805 bytes, checksum: 426212b14e1b999a175119fa03cd0518 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4210 bytes, checksum: fcb41208e0e9b9c2d505802358b9adb1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-28"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Railway ballast permeability"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Tutumluer, Erol"],"dc:creator":["Schmidt, Scott R"],"dc:date":["2017-08-10T19:16:16Z","2017-04-28","2017-05"],"dc:description":["Railway ballast serves as a major structural and drainage component of railroad track, but is known to degrade over time. This progressive degradation increases the amount of finer particles within the ballast over time, called fouling material, which decreases its drainage capacity and strength. Railroads commonly remove the fouling material using ballast shoulder cleaners and undercutters, however, these are expensive operations that require large machines and trained personnel. If the track is allowed to degrade for too long, significant track geometry, drainage, and stability problems can arise, creating potentially very costly derailments. Nevertheless, the point at which the fouling material should be removed from the ballast, or cleaned, is still relatively undefined. This study serves to investigate the drainage component of railway ballast and provide insight into how its drainage capacity changes with fouling so that determining a ballast cleaning threshold can be further defined. Previous studies within the railway ballast and rock fill dam permeability areas are first reviewed and compared from which it was learned that the rock fill dam studies have known of non-Darcy flow in large aggregates while the railway ballast permeability studies have not. Constant head permeability tests were then conducted using the University of Illinois Constant Head Aggregate Permeameter on clean and fouled ballast providing results that show the flow through clean ballast can be on the order of fourteen times as high as that through fouled ballast and it displays a nonlinear discharge velocity versus hydraulic gradient relationship. As the ballast becomes more fouled, however, the relationship becomes linear. Finally the Fouling Index and Void Contaminant Index are compared with the permeability results demonstrating that the Void Contaminant Index is a superior parameter to describe ballast fouling. From these findings future study recommendations are given for specifically determining when to clean ballast.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Scott Schmidt, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-26 at 16:17.","The student, Scott Schmidt, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-26 at 16:24.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-28 at 09:21.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11098 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:44","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 SCHMIDT-THESIS-2017.pdf: 5766805 bytes, checksum: 426212b14e1b999a175119fa03cd0518 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4210 bytes, checksum: fcb41208e0e9b9c2d505802358b9adb1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-28"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97499"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2017 Scott R. Schmidt"],"dc:subject":["Railway ballast","Permeability"],"dc:title":["Railway ballast permeability"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Civil Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z"}