For official use only

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

GUIDELINES ON TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT RESTORATION OF EMBANKMENT AFTER BREACHES/ WASHOUTS

Report No. GE: G-7

JULY-2005

Geotechnical Engineering Directorate RESEARCH DESIGNS & STANDARDS ORGANISATION LUCKNOW-226011

PREFACE

This report has been prepared on the basis of field experience & literature survey. The views expressed are subject to modification from time to time in the light of future developments on the subject. The views, as such, do not represent the views of Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), Government of India. This report is the property of RDSO and is meant essentially for official use. It may not be loaned, reproduced in part, or in full, or quoted as an authority without the permission of Director General, RDSO.

(Nand Kishore) Executive Director/GE

CONTENTS
S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Description Introduction Scope Reasons for washouts/breaches/slips Type of damages Materials available for restoration work Temporary repair methods Permanent repair methods Conclusion References Annexure Page No. 1 1 1 2 4 8 11 13 15 17

GUIDELINES ON TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT RESTORATION OF BANK AFTER BREACHES/WASHOUTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION Washouts/breaches of railway embankment during floods is a commonly occurring phenomenon, especially in monsoons. There are various direct and indirect losses due to washouts or breaches of the embankments. Main reasons behind the washouts/breaches are detailed in para 3.0 below. 2.0 SCOPE This report contains a theoretical study on temporary and permanent repair methods for washouts/breaches of railway embankments. The report is based on field experience, previous studies done by RDSO & literature survey. The recommendations of this report will help in quick restoration of traffic on a washed out railway formation. 3.0 i) REASONS FOR WAHSOUTS/BREACHES/SLIPS Main reasons for washouts/breaches are enumerated belowContinuous Rains- Banks situated in heavy rainfall areas are subjected to slips and breaches. When there is a continuous rain or continual interceptive rain for prolonged period, there is lot of infiltration of rainwater into the bank. This leads to decrease in cohesion of soil and drop in the shear strength. Further, it increases the gravitational forces acting on the bank & leading to slips in the bank. In the year 2004, many washouts/breaches of bank took place on account of heavy rainfall in Lummding-Badarpur hill section of NF Railway.
ii)

Floods and Receding Water- Floods are natural phenomenon caused by rains. Flash floods in hilly terrain result in washouts. Plain areas are also subjected to rapid flow of water due to heavy floods. During major floods, the water carries a lot of debris and it either erodes, scours, leads to submergence of bank and/or even overtops it, resulting in washouts. Slips occur in banks when flood water recedes. Such floods occur mainly in delta region & alluvial plains, where the rivers are wide, shallow and meandering type.
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Primary cause of meandering is excess discharge during floods, due to which high turbulence is developed. Basic factors controlling process of meandering are:a) b) c) d) Discharge Stream load Valley slope Bed and side resistance

Doab area between river Ganga and Son is heavily flooded in monsoon causing formation breaches in Eastern and EC Railway. iii) Vertical Sag (Bad Bank)- Many a time during the rains, vertical sags occur in railway track. Such sags develop due to inadequate/poor bearing capacity of soil. Vertical sags are quite common where a good portion of bank is made of ash, cinder or black cotton soils etc. Poor or inadequate compaction of newly made banks may also lead to vertical sags. Inadequate Openings- Railway banks act as a barrier to the natural flow of water in plains especially, where such plains acts as drainage path for wide spread catchments areas lying many miles away. When heavy rain occurs in the catchment areas, water gushes out to the plains all of a sudden. At times, openings provided in railway banks may prove inadequate to bear this excess amount of water, resulting in washouts. A clear difference in height of water level on either side of opening is seen in such cases. To get over the problem, additional openings across the track could provide a solution. v) Scouring Damages- Scouring may cause damage to bridge foundation as well as to other nearby structures such as end embankment, retaining walls etc.. If scouring exceeds a certain level, it can result in collapse of bank. TYPES ON DAMAGES Washouts/breaches may result in following types of damages: i) When the damage is limited to cess of embankment.
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iv)

4.0

DAMAGE IS LIMITED TO CESS

ii)

When the damage is extended to center of track.

DAMAGE IS EXTENDED TO CENTER OF TRACK

iii)

Rupture extends to foundation subsoil and original shape of embankment is not maintained.

ORIGINAL SHAPE OF EMBANKMENT DISTURBED

iv)

Embankment is deformed in a way generally similar to uniform settlement.

UNIFORM SETTLEMENT

v)

Embankment behind bridge abutment is settled and cracked.

EMBANKMENT SETTLED AND CRACKED BEHIND BRIDGE

5.0

MATERIALS FOR RESTORATION WORK i) Cinder ii) Boulders iii) Sand bags iv) Local earth v) Stone dust vi) Fly ash and Bottom ash vii) Sal balli/released rails

i)

Cinder- Cinder used to be easily available in the past when steam locomotives were in vogue. Therefore, it was used in restoration work in an extensive manner on railways. Now, with the progressive decline in steam locos over the years and currently no more in use, availability of cinder has become scarce. Hence, the option to use this material is no longer available. Boulders- Boulders can be procured from nearby stone quarry/river bed. Use of boulders in embankment may require heavy compaction machinery, which is generally not used in our country. Therefore, in absence of heavy compaction machinery, use of boulders for restoration purpose may not be advisable except for pitching the slopes at later stages of restoration. Sand- Sand is easily available in most of the areas and it can serve as a useful restoration material. Ordinary river sand filled in cement
4

ii)

iii)

bags can be stored in advance at convenient points for quick restoration of traffic. Embankment restored with sand may require erosion control measures later on. iv) Local earth- Utilization of local earth offers the simplest and fastest method for restoration of embankment. However, the following soils must be avoided: Peat and Organic soils Chalk etc. which are likely to disintegrate Poorly graded sands with Cu less than 2. Clay and silts of high plasticity (CH & MH) in top 3 m of embankment.

For this purpose, it would be better if borrow pits within railway area are identified well in advance. v) Stone dust- Stone dust is normally available in ballast quarries as a byproduct. It can also serve as a good blanket material, if due attention is paid during manufacturing of ballast. Stone dust may be stored in advance at convenient locations. Fly ash and Bottom ash - About 1000 million tonnes ash is produced in India every year by thermal power plants and is available free of cost from the plants. In most of the power plants, bottom ash and fly ash are mixed in slurry form and is disposed of to ash ponds in slurry form. Fly ash is a waste product of thermal power plant where it poses problem of disposal. Generally, both ashes are available in huge quantities in thermal power stations. Fly ash is a finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of pulverized coal in the boiler and collected from electrostatic precipitation. It is a pozzolanic material which in the presence of water reacts with lime and form cementitious materials.

vi)

Typical geo-technical properties of Fly ash Parameters Specific gravity, G Plasticity M.D.D (gm/cc) O.M.C (%) Cohesion (KN/m2) Angle of Internal Friction, Coefficient of Consolidation, Cv (cm2/sec) Compression index, Cc Permeability, k (cm/sec) Range 1.90- 2.55 Non-plastic 0.9-1.6 18.0-38.0 Negligible 30-40 1.75 105 2.01 103 0.05 0.4 8 106 7 104 Particle Size Distribution (% of materials) Clay size fraction 1 10 Silt size fraction Sand size fraction Gravel size fraction Coefficient of Uniformity, Cu 8 85 7 90 0 10 3.1 10.7

Bottom ash is collected at the bottom of boiler furnace as a resultant of coal burning activity. This is comparatively coarser material characterized by better geo-technical properties and therefore, promises to be an excellent material for fill embankment. Test results of bottom ash from NTPC Ltd. Ramgundam, Jyothinagar, Andhra Pradesh, as obtained in GE lab, RDSO are tabulated below:

Gravel (%)

Sand (%)

Silt Clay (%) (%)

% Passing

Classification

P.I.

Cu

Cc

05 03

89 80

06 17

00 00

06 17

SP-SM SM

NP NP

3.78 4.00

1.31 0.74

Physical properties of bottom ash as supplied by NTPC for its various units are tabulated belowPhysical properties of Bottom ash
S. No Material Sp.Gra vity Clay (%) Silt (%) Sand (%) Gravel (%) Cu Cc L.L.

1 2 3

Unchahar Korba Vijayawa da 4 Badarpur 5 Dadri 6 Ramagun dam 7 Neyveli 8 Farakka 9 Kahalgoa n 10 Rihand

1.66 2.15 1.82 1.95 2.01 2.08 2.08 2.16 2.17 2.19

1.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 2.5 1.0 -

12.0 8.0 22.0 12.0 40.0 12.5 5.5 8.0 14.8 13.6

87.0 91.0 71.0 87.0 59.0 76.5 91.5 78.5 65.9 75.8

0 0.5 7.0 0 0 10 0 11.1 18.3 10.6

7.8 4.7 9.4 9.1 7.5 8.0 5.2 14 8.8 6.5

3.7 2.1 1.1 1.0 1.4 1.6 2.1 1.5 1.3 1.2

92.6 77.0 53.5 47.4 48.0 65.1 104.1 70.9 45.0 57.0

Bottom ash is non-plastic with silty sand material. Its particles are spherical in shape and uniform in size. Due to this property, it is 5 to 10 times more permeable than soil having the some effective grain size. The permeability coefficient, k is in the order of 8.3 x 10 -5 cm/sec. Bottom ash is predominantly granular in nature, it behaves much the same as a cohesive soil with respect to consolidation. However, a notable difference between them is that, the bottom ash consolidates much more quickly then a clay soil because it is more permeable.

Compacted bottom ash achieves its most of shear strength from its interlocking of particles, expressed in terms of angle of internal friction. It also exhibits some apparent cohesion when moist due to surface tension in the pore water. Density of bottom ash fill is an important parameter which determines the strength, compressibility and permeability characteristics of the fill. M.D.D. of bottom ash is on the higher side upto 1.88 gm/cc. As compared to fly ash, bottom ash is a coarse grained material (high %age of sand), has high value of MDD and specific gravity. Due to these properties, bottom ash is superior material to fly ash. vii) Sal balli/Released rails - Though these materials are readily available in plenty with the railways, however, they have a limited use in restoration work when used alone. TEMPORARY REPAIR METHODS Various methods for temporary restoration of bank are as followsi) ii) iii) iv) v) Ballah/Rail piling Filling with cinder Filling with sand bags Filling with Fly ash and Bottom ash Filling with local earth

6.0

Temporary repairs methods are described below: i) Ballah/Rail Piling - In railway banks, where there is likelihood of slip occurring, ballah/rail piling offers the best solution in the short term. No other solution will serve the purpose at that moment of time. Ballah/ rail piling proves to be effective solution in following cases(a) (b) (c) (d) Where the movement of trains must not stop or even if it stops, it should be for minimum possible time. Where equipments and ballah/rail piling can be mobilized in very short period of time. Where the banks are very high and there is slope failure and not the toe failure. where the minor slips have already occurred and immediately restoration of track is required.
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It supports the slipped/ disturbed soil and immediately takes up the load and stabilizes the disturbed area. It also removes the chances of any further slip in this disturbed region and provides stability to the soil.

ii)

Filling with cinder - The washed out bank can be rebuilt with putting the cinder into the bank. However, these days cinder is not easily available in railways which was collected in the past from steam locomotives. Filling with sand bags - The washed out bank can be rebuilt by dumping sand bags already stored in advance along the bank. The sand bags should be half filled to minimize void spaces in between the sand bags. Filling with Fly ash and Bottom ash - The washed out banks can be rebuilt with fly ash or bottom ash, the latter being preferable material. Fly ash is a cohesionless material and is highly erodible in nature. Liquefaction generally occurs when fly ash is deposited under loose saturated condition during construction of embankment. In view of this and properties earlier discussed, special procedure such as Sandwich Construction or by Earth Cover is required for construction of embankment with fly ash. Sandwich Construction: Intermediate soil layers are often provided in the fly ash embankment for ease of construction, to facilitate compaction of ash and to provide adequate confinement. Such layers minimize

iii)

iv)

liquefaction potential also. Embankment with intermediate soil layers can be adopted in case height of the

Typical cross section of embankment showing sandwich Construction

embankment is more than 3 m, otherwise Earth Cover method can be adopted. The compacted thickness of intermediate soil layers shall not be less than 200 mm. One or more layers shall be constructed depending upon the design requirements. The vertical distance between such layers may vary from 1.5 to 3 m. The top 1 m of embankment should be constructed using selected earth to form the subgrade. Earth Cover: The fly ash embankment should be covered on the sides and top by soil to prevent erosion of ash. Good earth suitable for embankment construction can be adopted as cover material for fly ash embankment. For successful compaction of fly ash, self-propelled, pneumatictired rollers and self- propelled or towed vibratory rollers can be used. v) Filling with local earth - The washed out bank can be rebuilt by putting the soil from borrow pits which should be at a minimum distance of H+3 m from the toe of the bank, where H is the height of embankment. Proper compaction of the soil should be ensured.
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7.0

PERMANENT REPAIR METHODS Permanent repair methods for bank restoration are as followsi) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) Provision of blanket Provision of culvert/bridge etc. Boulder pitching Toe wall Slope flattening Retaining wall Provision of sand layer Turfing

Permanent restoration methods are described below: i) Provision of blanket- If it is not possible to provide blanket during temporary restoration of embankment, then blanket layer of adequate thickness conforming to stipulated specification must be provided a the time of permanent restoration. For this purpose, any method as described in RDSO Report no. GE-39 can be used for laying of blanket. Provision of culvert/bridge etc- If damage or washout of embankment occurs due to level difference in water level on both side of embankment as already discussed, suitably designed culverts / bridges at appropriate locations should be constructed. Boulder Pitching - In situations where railway banks remain submerged in water for considerable period during rainy season or otherwise, boulder pitching should be carried out upto appropriate level. Toe Wall - When bank is high, soil is plastic in nature, slope are inadequate and water remains in borrow pits by the side of toe of banks, such banks are prone to slips. Cross level variations and difficulty in maintenance of track are regular feature of such banks during the monsoon. Toe wall of boulder crates with re-profiling of slopes/sub banks can be probable solution at such places for stabilization of banks up to 6 m.

ii)

iii)

iv)

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When bank height is more than 6 m and bank slope profile shows signs of bulging, distorting or flattening with passage of time, cross level variation, movement of TP post and trees away from the centerline of track with every passing year, during rains, severe slips may occur in such banks. In such type of banks, toe wall with Ballah/ Rail piling at toe of sub-bank could be good solution.

v)

Slope flattening Slope stability analysis should be carried out and if existing slopes are found to be steep, then flatter slope should be provided with or without berms/sub-bank in keeping with the results of analysis.

vi)

Retaining wall If adequate slopes as determined from slope

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stability analysis can not be provided at site due to various constraints, retaining wall may be constructed at toe of the embankment. vii) Provision of sand layer In case, water table remains high at the breach site, 30 cm thick sand layer may be provided at bottom of sub bank when slope of embankment has to be stabilized by constructing a sub-bank. In such cases, it will be preferable to provide sand layer below main bank also at the time of temporary repairs. Sand layer will facilitate a lowering of water table and in quick dissipation of pore water pressure.

viii) Turfing - Turfing is suited for soil with some clay friction. Method consists of preparing slope area by grading it for sowing seeds or planting root strips of locally available creeping grass. Its root goes up to 50 to 75 mm deep into the slopes serving as a soil anchor and offering added resistance to erosion. Some typical species of grass which develop good network of roots and considered suitable are listed below: 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Doob grass Chloris gyne Iponea gorneas (Bacharum Booti) Casuariva and goat foot creepers etc. Vetiver grass (vetiveria zizanioides)

CONCLUSION Material for repair of embankment should be chosen keeping in view the availability of same in the near by area. Depending on past history and experience, vulnerable stretches of embankment can be identified and approximate quantity of material may be worked out. As far as possible, estimated quantity of material may be stored at convenient locations. If this is not possible, then reliable sources for material procurement should be identified well in advance. Possible borrow pit area in railway land may be identified and demarcated. If damage is large and permanent repair requires a long time, temporary repairs to a satisfactory level for restoration of traffic

8.4

13

8.5

8.6

8.7

should be made immediately and permanent repairs made subsequently. If damage is small and permanent repair is not difficult, repairs done initially should be of the permanent repair type. If possible all of the permanent repairs should be completed during the temporary repair period. The selection of temporary repair method for embankment will depend on conditions of the damaged embankment. In selecting the temporary repair method, it is necessary to consider the outline of the permanent repair so as to avoid the repetition of the same work during the permanent repair. The repair level at the temporary repair stage will depend on the overall level of damage in the area and the time allowed for the repair work. The general procedure will depend on the degree of damage. Factors to be considered for temporary repair include the extent of damage, the work schedule, the level to which the formation will be restored, the scope and process of the work and its priority. Crack, swelling, movements, and other signs of instability of slopes or cut slopes should be watched carefully in this period and until permanent repair is made, because of the danger that delayed effects may cause another disaster. In selecting proper permanent repair methods, the original structure of the embankment, the scale and mechanism of the damage and the possibility of secondary damage should be considered. This selection can be made with use of the information on patterns and level of damage, damage mechanism and ground conditions that may be obtained in the investigation for temporary repair. At the time of permanent repair of damaged bank, slope stability analysis should be carried out and new slope should be provided as per results of slope stability analysis. -----------------------

8.8

8.9

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9.0 REFERENCE :1. 2. 3.

4.

5. 6. 7.

Guide lines for Earthwork in Railway Projects, GE:G-1, July 2003. Slope Stability and formation treatment of Malda Division. IPWE Seminar Dec. 2001, Secunderabad, Comprehensive Report on Natural Disaster Reduction for roads, - Permanent International Association of Road Congress 1995. Technical paper title Design and Construction of eastern approach embankment using fly ash for second Nizamuddin Bridge, New Delhi , CRRI, New Delhi- 110020 in 2nd International Conference on Fly ash Disposal and Utilization. Guidelines for use of fly ash in road embankments- IRC specification publication, New Delhi 2001, IRC: SP: 58-2001. A report on Caol Ash- An environment friendly material for fill and embankment construction, NTPC, Lodhi road, New Delhi, July,2002, Part I. Guidelines for use of fly ash in Railway embankments Published by NTPC, Lodhi Road, New Delhi March 2003

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Guidelines has been prepared by 1. Director/GE 2. Director/GE under guidance of Shri Nand Kishore, Executive Director/GE with assistance of 1. 2. 3. Shri S.K Ojha, SRE/GE Shri R.S Meena, SRE/GE. Shri Susheel Kumar, JE-II (Design) Shri G. Nageswara Rao, Shri A. K. Singh,

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ANNEXURE List of NTPCs Coal Based Thermal Power Stations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Singrauli super Thermal Power station Korba super Thermal Power station Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Station. Faraka Super Thermal Power station Vindhyachal super Thermal Power station Rihand super Thermal Power station National Capital Power station Feroz Ghandhi Unchahar Thermal Power station Badarpur Thermal Power station Kahalgaon super Thermal Power station Talcher-Kaniha super Thermal Power station Talcher- Thermal Power station Tanda Thermal Power station Simhadri super Thermal Power station P.O. Shaktinagar Distt Sonebhadra, U.P. 231222 P.O. Pragati Nagar, Korba (West) Distt. Korba, CH.-495450 P.O. Jyoti Nagar Distt. Karim Nagar, A.P.-505215 P.O. Nabarun, Distt. Murshidabad, W.B. 742236 P.O. Vidhya Nagar Distt. Sindhi, M.P. - 486885 P.O. Rihand Nagar Distt. Sonebhadra U.P. - 321223 P.O. Vidyut Nagar Dadri Dhaulana Road Distt.Gautam Budha Nagar U.P. 201008 P.O. Unchahar, Distt. Rae Bareilly, U.P. 229406 P.O. Badarpur New Delhi 110044 P.O. Deeptinagar, Kahalgaon Distt. Bhagalpur, Bihar 813203 P.O. Kaniha, Distt. Angul, Orissa759147 P.O. Talcher Thermal Distt.Angul, Orissa 759101 P.O. Tanda Distt. Ambedkarnagar, U.P. P.O. Simhadri, Distt. Vishakhapatnam A.P. 531020

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