Application of Recycled Tires in Improving the Seismic Performance of Railway Embankments

Railways are a crucial component of infrastructure, enabling the rapid transportation of goods and passengers over long distances while producing fewer emissions compared to road vehicles. However, seismic events can damage railways, reducing track accessibility and raising maintenance costs for these infrastructure components. For ballasted tracks, which are the most common type of railway construction, using tire derived aggregates (TDA), which are recycled from scrap tires, in combination with ballast and/or sub-ballast particles can help reduce deformations and displacements caused by seismic activities. In this study, the application of TDA in the sub-ballast layer to reduce deformations and displacements of railway embankments caused by seismic loads is discussed. Shake table testing is used to investigate the seismic behavior of railway embankments with a sub-ballast layer consisting of sand and TDA. Then, numerical studies are utilized to estimate the optimum amount of TDA that should be added in the sub-ballast layer to improve the seismic behavior of railway embankments.