Moisture and soil strength monitoring of a railway embankment remediated with wicking geotextile

A 45 m section of a railway embankment located at Fort Saskatchewan County in Alberta, Canada, was remediated as part the Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CP) Grade Stabilization/Remediation Plan. The materials were replaced while 4.6 wide reinforcing geotextile (Mirafi® RS580i) and 7.3 wicking H2Ri) installed ballast sub-ballast interface between subgrade sub-ballast, respectively, aiming to address issues such poor drainage moisture retention. studied site consists an instrumented track including adjacent control that provided opportunity measure volumetric water content (VWC) within clayey both configurations. VWC variation with seasonal weather change is continuously monitored by nine sensors, antecedent precipitation index (API) model developed evaluate influence events on sections interpret impact situ unsaturated strength soil according soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) results. An initial evaluation moisture-suction relationship has shown improving section; nonetheless, these trends are anticipated be more consistent long-term observation.