This paper presents the results of an experimental study to evaluate the effect of ballast thickness on cyclic plastic deformation of the ballast of railroad track under train passage. Two types of small scale model tests which differ in the loading method were performed with poorly-graded crushed gravel. One is a static loading test, in which a static load is vertically applied to a sleeper. The other is a moving constant loading test, in which a wheel with a constant vertical load travels cyclically along the rails as actual train loading. As a result, it was revealed that ballast thickness influences the development of residual settlement by cyclic loading.

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