The evolution of particle breakdown in railway ballast – the crushed rock under railway tracks to absorb the weight of trains – has been modelled.
Sun YiFei from the University of Wollongong led a study that measured the particle size distribution of railway ballast under pressure. The model compared particle size distribution with the rate of particle breakage.
This model paves the way for further research into how crushable soils such as rock fill perform under high pressure from moving trains, and may result in longer lasting and safer rail systems.
Read more at University of Wollongong