In southwest China, red mudstone fill material (RMF) is widely used in constructing railway subgrades to substitute the conventional unbound granular materials (UGMs). Besides the strain-level dependent dynamic properties, RMF significantly depends on loading cycles. However, such an effect has yet to be incorporated into the current design method, which would lead to a considerable misprediction in dynamic responses of the RMF subgrade during the operation period. This paper presents a comprehensive study of long-term dynamic properties of RMF (a silty clay) over a range of water contents and cyclic stresses. The objective is to establish a normalization framework of dynamic properties that considers the effect of large numbers of cyclic loading. With this emphasis, 40 cyclic triaxial tests with 50000 loading cycles were conducted on RMF specimens compacted at various water contents. Two-stage behavior has been identified in equivalent Young's modulus and damping ratio evolutions. An exponential model is thus proposed to capture the two-stage pattern. The proposed normalization procedure showed a competent availability for the characterization of equivalent Young's modulus and damping ratio at different loading cycles. Soil fabric also played a decisive role in evaluating RMF's dynamic responses. Evidence of microfabric effect on the dynamic responses of RMF was strengthened by the Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis.

The utilisation of red mudstone waste as subgrade fill material after lime stabilization can meet the requirements of green development. This study aims at investigating the lime stabilization effect on the changes in mechanical properties and microstructure of compacted red mudstone fill material, with particular emphasis on the curing time effect. Red mudstone fill material were stabilized by 4 % lime, and the unconfined compressive strength, direct shear strength and microstructure of the lime-stabilized fill material specimens were determined at various curing times. Results show that the lime stabilization can significantly improve the unconfined compressive strength, modulus and direct shear strength and effectively mitigate the water sensitivity of the red mudstone fill material. The density function curve of the saturated red mudstone fill material shows monomodal characteristic, but the saturated lime stabilized fill material still maintains bimodal characteristic even with only one day of curing. The microstructure modification induced by lime stabilization mainly results from the rapid flocculation of soil particles and the formation of hydration product. During curing, the percentage of the nano-pores increases, mainly attributes to the formation of C-A-S-H which fills the micro-pores gradually.