Determination of engineering properties of soil on railway track routes (An example of Turkey between the cities of Sivas and Erzincan)

Abstract

Subsurface structure and engineering properties of the Sivas and Erzincan railway routewere investigated by using velocities of seismic wave, electrical resistivity, standardpenetration test (SPT) data and laboratory results, which were collected from surveysites referred to in this study. For this reason, 62 seismic refraction and verticalelectrical resistivity (VES) measurements at 59 points were done along the survey route.Moreover, 11 mechanical boreholes with SPT were drilled. Laboratory tests wereapplied on soil samples taken from boreholes for geotechnical features. Longitudinal,shear wave velocities and elastic parameters were determined by seismic refractionmethod, and underground resistivity distribution was calculated by VES andgeotechnical data and SPT results were evulated for the subsurface integrity.Engineering properties of a 6.8 km stretch of planned railway alignment in southeasternSivas were calculated in this study. According to these results, unsuitable segments ofthe high-speed alignment which have low groundwater level and low bearing capasitieswhich depend on dynamic properties were examined.