Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing for Capturing Long-Term Soil Deformations in Railway Trackbeds in a Model Test
Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing for Capturing Long-Term Soil Deformations in Railway Trackbeds in a Model Test
This paper describes a test setup developed to investigate the behaviour of railway trackbeds under cyclic loading using novel Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS). The model was constructed at full scale (1:1) to ensure realistic stress level and to replicate in-service track conditions. Vertical cyclic loading was applied to a bi-block sleeper placed on a compacted subballast gravel layer underlain by a soft subgrade. In addition to extensive conventional instrumentation, DFOS-based sensors were embedded at two depths within the subgrade layer. The experimental data will support the validation of numerical models and contribute to optimising railway trackbed design.
Alexander Kochnev; Joaquin Liaudat; Mengqi Zhou; H. Zachert; Orianne Jenck; Ahmad El Ayoubi; Fabrice Emeriault; L. Vollmert; Karolina Makowska; A. Dhemaied; O. A. Yaba
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Session 1: New facilities, new equipment, and measuring techniques
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-185