Search

The phenomena of settlement and wear of the ballast under dynamic stresses lead to high frequencies and high maintenance costs on high-speed railway lines. Studies have shown that these settlements are linked to high accelerations produced in the ballast by the passage of high-speed trains (HST). A layer of asphalt concrete (GB) was introduced under the ballast layer on the high-speed line Bretagne-Pays de Loire (BPL HSL). It is intended, among other things, to reduce the amplitude of accelerations produced at the passage of the HST and thus improve the durability of the track. The BPL HSL spans 105 km, with a sublayer of asphalt concrete under the ballast and 77 km with a granular sublayer (UGM). To evaluate the performance of the structures with bituminous sublayer and to compare it with traditional structures with granular sublayer, four track sections have been instrumented during construction. This article presents the different sensors of the instrumentation, as well as the acquisition system installed to collect measurements. The focus, in this study, concerns the temperature, water content, and vertical settlement measurements made on the instrumented sections. Temperature variations recorded during two years on the railway structure with bituminous sublayer were analyzed and compared with those measured on a classical bituminous pavement. Influence of the bituminous layer on water infiltration and track settlements has also been studied.