The present study attempted a three-dimensional finite element analysis of a typical ballasted rail track under a single moving wheel load at different speeds to evaluate the effect of geocell reinforcement. Three different sets of simulations were performed. The first two sets of simulations were performed with geocell embedment in substructure layers one by one i.e. ballast and subballast layers. The third simulation set was the reference simulation set without any reinforcement. The moving load is simulated using a single moving wheel that is loaded at its center. The moving speed ranging from 100 to 600 kmph. The results show that the geocell shows a better improvement if applied closer to the load. The results also suggest that a single layer of geocell can reduce the vibration in railway track by half. The area of improvement with reinforcement is directly proportional to the extents of geocell geometry.
Mandhaniya et al. (Sat,) studied this question.