Abstract

The rapid drawdown of water level adjacent to a clay slope under railway embankments reduces the stability of these slopes, which results in further safety implications when a freight train is passing through this area. Thus, to enhance the safety and stability of a clay slope under both rapid drawdown and a moving freight train conditions requires in-depth investigation, which has not been done before. This work is focused on the coupled drawdown analysis with slope stability assessment under undrained conditions using 2-dimensional models through the finite element shear strength reduction (FE-SSR) method. A series of parametric studies were performed including the identification of key factors, such as geometric characteristics of the slope, rapid drawdown ratios, and freight train speeds. The control variable method was introduced to individually study each parameter and its effect on slope stability. For slopes with different geometric parameters and rapid drawdown ratios, maximum safe train speed information is presented for slopes with a minimum factor of safety of 1.3. Noticeably, a slope with 3H:1V slope inclination, and 3-m railway embankment has shown excellent results in terms of high maximum safe train speeds under the studied conditions. As a contribution, this study provides maximum safe train speed information for a slope with different geometric parameters and rapid drawdown ratios, which can be used as a reference for safe freight train operations.