Railways, Airports, Seaports and Intermodal Facilities

The heavy worldwide development of railways, airport runways, ports, and container yards construction all have one thing in common – they require heavy-duty pavements, but many of them are built on top of soft, marginal soils and sometimes swamps. The Tough Cell solution for soil stabilization and pavement reinforcement in these situations is sustainable under heavy traffic, loading, enhanced stresses and extreme axle weights, providing the answer for all types of special heavy-duty structures including:

Railways

Successful railway engineering solutions are measured by maintenance costs. Tough Cell offers a cost-effective solution for railway ballast stabilization – for both the sub ballast and ballast layers. The Tough Cell is usually positioned in the ballast interface area to prevent track degradation and structural integrity under heavy loads. The Tough Cell solution has been used in railway tracks built on any type of soft soils (clay, sand, saturated) and has proven results in reducing maintenance cycles. The solution to reducing surface geometry deformation is to use Tough Cell as structural support at the ballast interface. Full scale field tests determined that Neoloy based Tough Cell decreased degradation levels by a 2-2.75 factor. In addition to extending track ballast maintenance cycles, Tough Cell is ideal for new railway soil stabilization and rehabilitation of tracks that suffer from accelerated wear and tear.

Tough Cell offers soil stabilization solutions for different railway applications:
Embankments – Tough Cell increases strength, protects foundation structural integrity and provides reinforcement at the foot of a soft subgrade or the top layers of the embankment. It further reduces vertical deformation and lateral displacement of the railway ballast by more than 50%, making it stiff and durable.
Earth Stabilization – The provision of soil stabilization solutions on any typical railway development structure, including slope/channel protection, retaining walls, stream diversions and flyovers, is incorporated within the ToughCell technology. This also includes earth berms and green noise barriers that are the best noise insulators, yet maintain a green façade.
Ballast Confinement – Scattering ballast, that can cause settlement, is the main railway maintenance nuisance. Tough Cell cellular confinement minimizes particle movement and prevents aggregate shearing under heavy loads.
Sub Ballast Reinforcement – The substructures under ballast layers is structurally important but due to technical challenges not subject to regular maintenance. The utilization of Tough Cell reinforces this layer and creates a semi-rigid platform based on the beam effect. This design reduces degradation, enhanced shear strength and promoted load distribution.

Benefits

Cost Effective

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and reduced maintenance costs throughout lifecycle extends track maintenance periods by 7 times, equating to a longer life span. Initial construction savings with use of local materials and reduced vibrations decrease wear and tear, making Tough Cell a cost-effective solution for this industry

Operational

Enables bearing of up to 40% heavier loads and 30% faster trains.

Engineering

Cell structure allows the use of non-cohesive soils as infill and is durable under heavy loads. The Tough Cell alters physical and mechanical properties, resulting in trackbed soil stabilization, providing longer ballast life and reducing layer thickness.

Installation

Fast and simple deployment, all weather installation - all year round.

Airport Pavement Reinforcement (Runway Construction)

The demands for airport and runway construction is expanding significantly worldwide. Most airports are located in city margins, in relatively remote areas with soft subgrade soils or even in swamp lands. A soil stabilization solution is greatly needed, with base reinforcements being crucial for the airport infrastructure. Tough Cell is a proven pavement reinforcement solution that provides ground improvement properties for airport access roads, runway shoulders, storage yards, platforms and aprons.

Tough Cell enhances each pavement layer and reinforces the layer modulus for sustaining very heavy loads during a long life span and frequent traffic for all airport related applications:
Pavement reinforcement – Long lasting heavy load sustainable pavements, with reduced layer thickness. Tough Cell is suitable for parking aprons, container storage areas, runway shoulders, and more airport related construction and transportation needs.
Rigid concrete pavements – Long term pavement life, with minimal maintenance requirements. The concrete slab thickness is reduced by approximately 25%.
Reinforcement of runway shoulders – A reinforced turf surface cover provides heavy load resistance and offers a critical safety factor for aircrafts that may stray from the runway.

Seaports

The three most important requirements for ports, container yards or storage areas are: heavy load reinforcement, good drainage and quality layers of aggregate. The Tough Cell design meets these strict criteria at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods. Moreover, life cycle maintenance savings are even greater.

The Neoloy-based Tough Cell provides load support by creating a semi-rigid slab (“beam effect”) that distributes the load over a wider area, all while using most aggregates. The Tough Cell design increases the bearing capacity by a factor of X5 and decreases differential settlement by up to 80%. These capabilities enable the Tough Cell placement below paving blocks in the base layer and replace other reinforcement methods that require specialist contractors as well as higher installation time and cost.

Tough Cell’s high creep resistance provides dimensional stability required for a long-lasting pavement, even when subjected to heavy static or cyclical loads in extreme weather conditions.