Cooling effect of ballast revetment on the roadbed of Qinghai-Tibetan Railway

The data obtained through the roadbed surface thermal regime experiment (ROBSTREX), which was carried out at Beiluhe test section of Qinghai-Tibetan Railway from October to December in 2002, were used to estimate the cooling effect of ballast revetment on the road bed. The results show that both riprap rock ballast revetment and crushed stone ballast revetment can reduce the temperature of the roadbed. But the cooling effect of riprap rock ballast revetment is better than that of crushed stone ballast revetment when the temperature of roadbed is higher. The cooling effect of crushed stone ballast revetment is better than that of riprap rock ballast revetment when the temperature of the roadbed is lower, especially at deeper roadbed layers. In the frozen season, the heat release from the roadbed also shows that the cooling effect of ballast revetment on the roadbed is obvious, and the cooling effect of crushed stone ballast revetment on the roadbed is much evident than that of riprap rock ballast revetment.