Zenia De Leon
UTRGV Civil Engineering student Zenia De Leon had the opportunity of completing her UTCRS REU experience at Texas A&M University. Ms. De Leon was interested in geometric design and in reducing the amount of geometric defects on railway tracks. For this reason, her summer research project was focused on reducing ballast settlement through the use of geogrid. In normal operation, as time progresses, new ballast tends to spread horizontally, affecting the vertical position of railway sleepers and having considerable effects on track alignment and geometry. Rail defects and track geometry are both major causes of railroad accidents and derailments. Ms. De Leon considered different configurations of geogrid and ballast under load to optimize the setup for real life application.