Bearing Properties and Stability Analysis of the Slope Protection Framework Using Recycled Railway Sleepers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors improved the manuscript according to the Reviewer's suggestions and the manuscript should be published.

Author Response

Thank you. I have modified the language according to your requirements, and marked the modified content in red in the paper. Thanks for the expert's valuable advice. I sincerely hope that this paper can be published in Sustainability.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Generally, this paper provides a very interesting work by analysing the bearing properties and stability of the slope protection framework using recycled railway sleepers. Some comments can be addressed as follows before a publication is recommended.

[In the abstract]

1) The semicolon in front of ‘however’ is not recommended to be used. Please consider modifying.

2) Some statistical results are desired to indicate the superiority of the present framework.

 

[In the introduction]

It is recommended to point out the negative effect of poor-quality sleepers, which directly affects the track quality. The track quality not only affects the safe operation of the train [1] but also deteriorates its interaction performance with infrastructures [2]. Please consider enriching.

[1] Fundamentals of vehicle-track coupled dynamics. Veh. Syst. Dyn. 47, 1349–1376, 2009.

[2] "A spatial coupling model to study dynamic performance of pantograph-catenary with vehicle-track excitation," Mech. Syst. Signal Process., vol. 151, p. 107336, 2021.

 

After the literature review, it is not straightforward to see the summary of the shortcomings of the previous works, which should be a direct motivation of this work. Please consider highlighting this in a revised paper.

 

[In section 2]

It looks that Figure 1 contains a lot of information. Please consider give more descriptions in texts.

 

[In section 3]

Which software is used to model the slope protection framework? Please indicate.

 

The numerical accuracy of the finite element seems to be very important for making any conclusive results. Please comment on this.

 

[In section 4]

Some texts can be inserted between the titles of the section and sub-section to show the outline structure of this section.

 

The stability analysis method can be elaborated with more detail.

Author Response

Respond to Reviewer2 comments:

Comment

1. [In the abstract]

1) The semicolon in front of ‘however’ is not recommended to be used. Please consider modifying.

2) Some statistical results are desired to indicate the superiority of the present framework.

Response

Thanks for the expert's valuable advice. The abstract has been modified and supplemented according to your suggestions. For example: “The slope protection framework developed using recycled railway sleepers offers a novel sustainable solution for slope protection. However, this has been inadequately reported and  some statistical results are desired to indicate the superiority of the present framework.”.

 

Comment

2. [In the introduction]

It is recommended to point out the negative effect of poor-quality sleepers, which directly affects the track quality. The track quality not only affects the safe operation of the train [1] but also deteriorates its interaction performance with infrastructures [2]. Please consider enriching.

[1] Fundamentals of vehicle-track coupled dynamics. Veh. Syst. Dyn. 47, 1349–1376, 2009.

[2] "A spatial coupling model to study dynamic performance of pantograph-catenary with vehicle-track excitation," Mech. Syst. Signal Process., vol. 151, p. 107336, 2021.

After the literature review, it is not straightforward to see the summary of the shortcomings of the previous works, which should be a direct motivation of this work. Please consider highlighting this in a revised paper.

Response

Thank you. We have added the introduction about the negative effect of poor-quality sleepers, which directly affects the track quality. Such as: “ With the increase in train speed and vehicle axle load, effects of the dynamic interaction between the vehicle and the track obviously intensify (Wanming Zhai et al., 2009). Dynamic effects of the vehicle on the track structure increase accordingly, the track quality not only affects the safe operation of the train, but also deteriorates its interaction performance with infrastructures (Yang Song et al., 2021).”. Finally, the study of Reference 1 and Reference 2 has broadened my horizon.

References

Wanming Zhai, Kaiyun Wang and Chengbiao Cai. Fundamentals of vehicle–track coupled dynamics, Vehicle System Dynamics, 2009, 47:11, 1349-1376.

Yang Song, Zhiwei Wang, Zhigang Liu, Ruichen Wang. A spatial coupling model to study dynamic performance of pantograph-catenary with vehicle-track excitation, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 2021, 151, 107336.

 

Comment

3. It looks that Figure 1 contains a lot of information. Please consider give more descriptions in texts.

Response

Thank you very much. I have marked the modified content in red in the paper. Considering the boundary effect of the model, the foot of the slope extends 8 m to the existing ground, and the top of the hill extends 8 m backward in the section direction of the mountain. Along the depth direction of the slope, the model depth is 5 m below the ground. Due to the different lattice widths of the three kinds of skeletons, the model's width is two times the lattice width. The geometric parameters of slope protection skeleton, anchor cable, and slope toe beam are selected according to the actual project layout to simplify the calculation, not considering the slope groundwater and vegetation protection, only considering the recycled railway sleeper slope protection structures.

References

Kai, G. Study on Properties and Modification mechanism of Graphene-Oxide Recycled Concrete. Ph.D. thesis. Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 2021.

Gongbing, Y. Study on the Recycled Concrete Multi-Interface Structure and the Damage Mechanism of Performance. Ph.D. thesis. Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 2018.

Sadowska-Buraczewska, B.; Grzegorczyk-Frańczak, M. Sustainable Recycling of High-Strength Concrete as an Alternative to Natural Aggregates in Building Structures. Sustainability. 2021, 13, 4286.

 

Comment

4. Which software is used to model the slope protection framework? Please indicate.The numerical accuracy of the finite element seems to be very important for making any conclusive results. Please comment on this.

Response

Thank you for pointing this. We are sorry for that. It is has been modified in the revised manuscript. Based on the ABAQUS finite element computing platform, a three-dimensional finite element model was established to analyze the slope protection performance of the three skeleton slope protection structures. The results of vertical displacement given by numerical model in this study and that given by a site test ( arch skeleton) were shown in Fig. 1.

 

Comment

5. Some texts can be inserted between the titles of the section and sub-section to show the outline structure of this section.The stability analysis method can be elaborated with more detail.

Response

Thank you. The author has carefully revised the whole paper according to the suggestions of experts to improve the quality of the paper. The paper carries on the numerical simulation according to the actual engineering case. It analyzes the railway slope's bearing characteristics and slope stability using the recycled railway sleepers as the skeleton of slope protection in detail. Although three kinds of slope protection structures have been applied in the engineering field, the stress and deformation characteristics of the supporting structure are not clear. Therefore, according to the engineering demand, the author carries on the structural stress and deformation analysis and the slope stability analysis. Experts' suggestions are excellent. Based on the paper's overall thinking and engineering situation, the author will make a detailed analysis in subsequent related articles to avoid duplication.

References

Jinxi, Z.; Jianhua, Z.; Changshen, W. Study on Properties and Pore Structure of Recycled Concrete. Journal of Building Materials. 2006, 9, 142-147.

Dong, Z.; Keru, W. Tuning Effect of Porous Structure on Phase Changing Behavior of Organic Phase Changing Matters. Journal of Tongji University(Natural Science. 2004, 32, 1163-1167.

Qinyong, M.; Mei, B. Preparation and Properties of Phase Change Energy-Storing Concrete. Acta Materiae Compositae Sinica. 2018, 35, 676-683.

Jiabin, L.; Jianzhuang, X.; Zhenping, S. Properties of Recycled Coarse Aggregate and Its Influence on Recycled Concrete. Journal of Building Materials. 2004, 7, 390-395.

Yidong, X.; Shiqiong, Z.; Jia, X. Experimental Study of Recycled Concrete Aggregate. Journal of Building Materials. 2004, 7, 447-450.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Most of my concerns have been adressed well. However, I can't understand at all why the comment " some statistical results are desired to indicate the superiority of the present framework" are inserted into the abstract directly. I will recommend the manuscript being published when the abstract is modified correctly.

Author Response

Thanks for the expert's valuable advice. The abstract has been modified and supplemented according to your suggestions. For example: “However, this has been inadequately reported, and its force and deformation, protective effect, and bonding characteristics between sleepers are still unclear. Its stress and deformation, protection effect, and bonding characteristics between sleepers are still unclear”. The content in the abstract has been replaced. There are some problems with the previous description.

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper developed three finite element model to study the bearing properties and stability of the slope protection framework. The manuscript is well written and the results will be useful in selecting of the skeleton structures of the sleepers slope protection. The manuscript subject is interesting and falls within the ‘sustainability’ topic.

Specific comments are as follows:

1. The language of the manuscript should be improved.
2. Page 3, line 113 : The location on the two longitudinal frames with the maximum stress is recommended to be marked in Fig. 3.
3. Page 5, Fig. 5: This figure is not clear.
4. The slope stability analysis for without slope protection framework is recommended to be supplemented in the
5. The references number is too small, it is suggested to supplement relevant references.

Reviewer 2 Report

it is a good point to reuse the recycled railway sleepers as slope reinforcement, however, the structure, the details of the railway sleeper joint and bonding information is poor, and less asumption of the model simplificaitons.

The authors need quite a lot to improve it as a real research article, in the logic and details of the "story"

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript presents a numerical analysis of a railway embankment. Generally, the manuscript is flawed. The main reasons of this choice are listed below.

 

Comments:

1. English is barely understandable. The way the manuscript is written is not suitable for an international journal. An extensive editing would be required from a language expert.
2. Abstract and Introduction are not attractive. They are too poor and concise and the main goal of the manuscript is not clear.
3. Line 1: the manuscript is categorized as ‘Article’. This category should contain novel content, whereas the present manuscript presents only the FEM analysis of a railway embankment. This is actually a common practice in civil engineering and a novel aspect is lacking. There is no justification for publish a research article about this. At most, it could be a ‘case history’.
4. The quality of some figures is awful. For example, Figure 5 is blurred.
5. A scientific paper should contain some literature review. This one has only nine references, which are not enough.