The Present State and Future Subjects of Research and Development concerned
with Ballast and Earth Structure
Osamu MURATA
Our laboratory (Soil mechanics & foundation engineering) has engaged in studying
basic characteristic of soil and several new types of earth structure. For example
reinforced earth using short reinforcing members and a continuous rigid facing has
been researched and developed. It is called RRR (Reinforced Railway with Rigid facing)
method. The total length of the walls by RRR method is now more than 15km. Road bed
reinforced with honeycomb - like geocell has been also researched and developed.
From now on we will study strengthening ballast method for decreasing maintenance
of track. This paper describes the present state and future subjects concerned with
ballast and earth structure.