Study of a railway embankment reinforced with jute tassels

This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests and corresponding numerical analyses carried out on a model slope representing an actual railway embankment which failed on several occasions after overnight heavy rainfall. In the absence of any field data, the displacement behaviour and failure pattern of the model embankment slope are observed in the laboratory under fully saturated condition and under a static load at the crest simulating the actual rail loads. A study is also performed by reinforcing the slope with thin jute tassels of 1 mm diameter. The numerical simulation of the model tests is performed by a commercial program called FLAC. The responses of the model slope with and without jute tassels are observed in fully saturated condition. Significant improvement in deformation of the slope is observed both in the case of numerical analyses and laboratory experiments when jute tassels are utilized as a slope protection measure. The study indicates that the stability of the railway embankment can be improved significantly at low cost by reinforcing it with jute tassels.