A discussion for the possible effects of low humidity levels on the geotechnical aspects of high speed railway substructures

摘要

There has been a significant increase in the construction of high speed railway infrastructures around the world since 2004. Following its first commercial debut in 1964 in Japan, the technology commercialized in Europe in the 1980's and since then, the know-how and the experience related to the high speed railways developed mainly based on the experiences and research that took place in Japan and Europe. However, high speed railways are now being used in other parts of the world that are different than the countries where they were initially adopted, in terms of geography and climate. Design considerations of high speed railway infrastructures are much deeper and the related production tolerances are much stricter than conventional railway infrastructures. Such a change in the depth and the precision of mechanical design considerations require mechanical design evaluations unique to the locations where the high speed railway infrastructure will be established. This paper qualitatively addresses some of the possible effects of diminishing humidity levels as a result of the climate change, on the geotechnical aspects of high speed railway infrastructures located in Turkey.