Abstract The reuse of recycled materials in transportation infrastructure has gained significant popularity in recent years. Particularly, recent studies have explored the use of coal wash and rubber crumbs mixtures (CWRC) to create a synthetic, energy-absorbing railway capping layer, offering a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional materials. Although previous studies have examined the mixture’s deformation characteristics, particle breakage, damping properties, and resilient behaviour under cyclic loading, its fatigue behaviour remains largely unexplored. The current research aims to investigate the effect of the applied cyclic deviator stress on the fatigue behaviour of this waste mixture, by evaluating permanent deformation, particle breakage, resilient modulus, and shear modulus through a series of cyclic triaxial tests. Three distinct zones, namely the plastic shakedown zone, critical dynamic stress zone, and low-cycle fatigue zone, are identified based on the accumulated permanent deformation and the stress–life diagram. A detailed analysis of particle breakage, resilient modulus, and shear modulus associated with these three zones is also conducted. The findings of this study will significantly impact future track design by integrating the concept of fatigue under cyclic loading based on plasticity and yield envelopes.
Riyad et al. (Sat,) studied this question.