Numerical and in-situ evaluation of explosive compaction effectiveness in railway subgrade improvement

Owing to its huge area coverage, explosive Compaction (EC) is as an attractive improvement technique in railway projects. Despite many EC case studies in the literature, few experimental tests are conducted to be used for calibration of numerical models. Thus in this study, a field test is conducted on a railway subgrade and simulated with an advanced numerical model followed by a parametric study on detonation delay. Beside showing promising advantages of the numerical model, it can also distinguish the effects of detonation delay such as change in wave arrivals or instant compaction in EC.