Evaluation of the Two Faces Water Level Dynamics and its Impact on the Stability of Railway Embankment Infrastructures

Abstract

The Nanhu railway embankment, located between two lakes, experiences seasonal water level fluctuations. This study aims to assess the impacts of these fluctuations on embankment seepage, stability, and deformation conditions. Firstly, field observations and laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the hydro-mechanical properties of the embankment material and the drawdown scenarios. Subsequently, GeoStudio 2D and PLAXIS 2D software were used for numerical analysis. The analysis demonstrates that the combined impact of a train static load (130–150 kPa) with lowering drawdown and increasing water level scenarios affects the stability of the embankment, resulting in more deformation than the falling scenario. The model result showed a maximum displacement of 238.43 mm, which was corroborated by the observed field data. Furthermore, the rising scenario had a minimal safety factor of 0.9128, and the falling scenario yielded a minimum safety factor of 0.9312, indicating severe instability. Furthermore, the findings indicate that understanding the relationship between safety factors, pore-water pressure, deformation, and train static load for an embankment infrastructure can aid in the stability management of multi-face water level fluctuation conditions. To prevent embankment failures, simplified preventive approaches are analyzed, and it is discovered that the steel-pipe grouting consolidation method can potentially enhance embankment stability by 50%.