TITLE:
Experimental Characterization of Shape of an Aggregate by a Numerical Value—Application to Senegalese Basaltic Aggregates for Rail Transport
AUTHORS:
Abdoulaye Diedhiou, Libasse Sow, Ndeye Mareme Diop
KEYWORDS:
Ballast, Rail Transport, Basalt, Shape, Volume Coefficient
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.10 No.2,
May
19,
2020
ABSTRACT: This article first talks
about railways in general and ballast in particular. An inventory is then made
on the modernization of the Senegalese ballast railways. In the second phase,
an experimental work of characterization of basaltic aggregates of Diack
(Locality of Ngoundiane, Thiès region, Senegal) is presented. The grain size
studied is 25/50 mm as for any material studied for use as railway ballast.
Experimental work presented consists of the characterization of the shape of an
aggregate using the NF P 18-301 standard. The test consists of comparing the
volume of the aggregate to that of an equivalent sphere with the largest
diameter of the aggregate, by calculating the average volume coefficient. With
a Representative Elementary Volume (REV) of 6 aggregates, the volume
coefficient “Cv” fluctuates between 0.27 and 0.49 with an average
volume coefficient of 0.39 which is well above 0.15. The
grains studied are polyhedral and therefore have a high mechanical resistance.