{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,7]],"date-time":"2026-02-07T20:02:19Z","timestamp":1770494539665,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,1]],"date-time":"2023-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1672531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT\/MCTES (PIDDAC)","award":["IDB\/04708\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IDB\/04708\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT\/MCTES (PIDDAC)","award":["691135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["691135"]}]},{"name":"European Commission","award":["IDB\/04708\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IDB\/04708\/2020"]}]},{"name":"European Commission","award":["691135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["691135"]}]},{"name":"RISEN program","award":["IDB\/04708\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IDB\/04708\/2020"]}]},{"name":"RISEN program","award":["691135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["691135"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The purpose of this research is to study the seismic performance of railway embankments through a probabilistic approach. Nonlinear response history analyses were conducted utilizing PLAXIS software. Three categories of railway embankments were selected and more than 2400 embankment-earthquake case studies were performed. Sensitivity analyses were implemented to obtain the most important variables in the seismic performance of railway embankments. Finally, analytical fragility curves were generated in terms of the mechanical properties of railway embankments (e.g., soil cohesion and friction angle). Fragility functions were developed, employing an incremental dynamic analysis approach using a set of ground motions, including near- and far-field earthquakes. The maximum vertical displacement of the embankment was chosen as a damage index parameter. Fragility curves were derived for three damage states, including slight, moderate and extensive damage, with respect to threshold values proposed in the literature. The results of this study revealed that the mechanical properties of embankments could be considered one of the crucial uncertainty factors in seismic fragility analysis of railway embankments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app13010598","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,2]],"date-time":"2023-01-02T03:50:32Z","timestamp":1672631432000},"page":"598","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Probabilistic Seismic Safety Assessment of Railway Embankments"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Mohammadreza","family":"Mohammadi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CONSTRUCT\u2014LESE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6751-0388","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Araliya","family":"Mosleh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CONSTRUCT\u2014LESE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Mehran S.","family":"Razzaghi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin 3419915195, Iran"}]},{"given":"Pedro","family":"Alves Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CONSTRUCT\u2014LESE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Rui","family":"Cal\u00e7ada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CONSTRUCT\u2014LESE, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1016\/j.retrec.2012.05.008","article-title":"Effect of transportation infrastructure on economic growth in India: The VECM approach","volume":"38","author":"Pradhan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Res. Transp. Econ."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"333","article-title":"Railway transportation as a serious source of organic and inorganic pollution","volume":"218","author":"Galera","year":"2010","journal-title":"Water Air Soil Pollut."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"1","article-title":"Organisation of railway freight transport: Case study CIM\/SMGS between Slovakia and Ukraine","volume":"8","author":"Zitricky","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur. Transp. Res. Rev."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"849","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tra.2005.02.006","article-title":"Assessment of economic impacts from unexpected events with an interregional commodity flow and multimodal transportation network model","volume":"39","author":"Ham","year":"2005","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Part A Policy Pract."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"433","article-title":"Reliability Analysis of Tunnels with Consideration of the Earthquakes Extreme Events","volume":"22","author":"Azadi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Geomech. Eng."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1193\/1.1586161","article-title":"Performance of Transportation Systems after the 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake","volume":"16","author":"Byers","year":"2000","journal-title":"Earthq. Spectra"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1193\/1.2172282","article-title":"Performance of Transportation Systems during the 2004 Niigata Ken Chuetsu, Japan, Earthquake","volume":"22","author":"Ashford","year":"2006","journal-title":"Earthq. Spectra"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"50271","article-title":"Transport infrastructure performance and management in the South Island of New Zealand, during the first 100 days following the 2016 Mw 7.8 \u201cKaik\u014dura\u201d earthquake","volume":"50","author":"Davies","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bull. N. Z. Soc. Earthq. Eng."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"872","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sandf.2012.11.009","article-title":"Damage to railway earth structures and foundations caused by the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake","volume":"52","author":"Koseki","year":"2012","journal-title":"Soils Found."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1921","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)0733-9445(2004)130:12(1921)","article-title":"Fragility Assessment of Light-Frame Wood Construction Subjected to Wind and Earthquake Hazards","volume":"130","author":"Ellingwood","year":"2004","journal-title":"Eng. Struct."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"04014170","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000669","article-title":"Probabilistic seismic safety assessment of precode cylindrical oil tanks. J Performance of Constructed Facilities","volume":"29","author":"Razzaghi","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Perform. Constr. Facil."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"431","article-title":"Fragility assessment of RC bridges using numerical analysis and artificial neural networks","volume":"15","author":"Razzaghi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Earthq. Struct."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"992","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000452","article-title":"Fragility analysis of retrofitted multi-column bridge bent subjected to near fault and far field ground motion","volume":"18","author":"Billah","year":"2013","journal-title":"ASCE J. Bridge Eng."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.12989\/sem.2012.43.1.127","article-title":"Seismic vulnerability assessment criteria for RC ordinary highway bridges in Turkey","volume":"43","author":"Avsar","year":"2012","journal-title":"Struct. Eng. Mech."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.12989\/eas.2016.11.3.517","article-title":"Development of fragility curves for RC bridges subjected to reverse and strike-slip seismic sources","volume":"11","author":"Mosleh","year":"2016","journal-title":"Earthq. Struct."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"69","article-title":"Shaking table modeling of embankment slope response to earthquake loading","volume":"6","year":"2013","journal-title":"Disaster Adv."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1016\/j.soildyn.2014.06.002","article-title":"Centrifuge modeling of the seismic responses of sand deposits with an intra-silt layer","volume":"65","author":"Lee","year":"2014","journal-title":"Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2175","DOI":"10.1007\/s10706-020-01617-7","article-title":"DEM Study on the Instability Behaviour of Granular Materials","volume":"39","author":"Allulakshmi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Geotech. Geol. Eng."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"122","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enganabound.2014.11.029","article-title":"Abatement of railway induced vibrations: Numerical comparison of trench solutions","volume":"55","author":"Barbosa","year":"2015","journal-title":"Eng. Anal. Bound. Elements"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0000055","article-title":"Experimental and Numerical Study of Railway Ballast Behavior under Cyclic Loading","volume":"10","author":"Indraratna","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Geomech."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2016.03.016","article-title":"Railway cuttings and embankments: Experimental and numerical studies of ground vibration","volume":"557\u2013558","author":"Kouroussis","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mosleh, A., Meixedo, A., Ribeiro, D., Montenegro, P., and Cal\u00e7ada, R. (2022). Automatic clustering-based approach for train wheels condition monitoring. Int. J. Rail Transp., 1\u201326.","DOI":"10.1080\/23248378.2022.2096132"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mosleh, A., Meixedo, A., Ribeiro, D., Montenegro, P., and Cal\u00e7ada, R. (2022). Early wheel flat detection: An automatic data-driven wavelet-based approach for railways. Veh. Syst. Dyn., 1\u201330.","DOI":"10.1080\/00423114.2022.2103436"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mohammadi, M., Mosleh, A., Razzaghi, M., Alves Costa, P., and Cal\u00e7ada, R. (2022). Stochastic analysis of railway embankment with uncertain soil parameters using polynomial chaos expansion. Struct. Infrastruct. Eng., 1\u201320.","DOI":"10.1080\/15732479.2022.2033277"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vale, C. (2021). Wheel Flats in the Dynamic Behavior of Ballasted and Slab Railway Tracks. Appl. Sci., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/app11157127"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"906","DOI":"10.1007\/s11771-016-3138-5","article-title":"Numerical analysis on seismic behavior of railway earth embankment: A case study","volume":"23","author":"Lin","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Cent. South Univ."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1863","DOI":"10.1002\/eqe.2563","article-title":"Analytical seismic fragility functions for highway and railway embankments and cuts","volume":"44","author":"Argyroudis","year":"2015","journal-title":"Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Sakai, H., Sawada, S., and Toki, K. (February, January 30). Non-linear analyses of dynamic behavior of embankment structures considering tensile failure. Proceedings of the12WCEE 2000: 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Auckland, New Zealand."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Oblak, A., Kosic, M., Fonseca, A., and Logar, J. (2020). Fragility Assessment of Track Embankments Exposed to Earthquake-Induced Liquefaction. Appl. Sci., 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/app10196832"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1041","DOI":"10.1007\/s11440-018-0631-z","article-title":"Liquefaction analysis and damage evaluation of embankment-type structures","volume":"13","author":"Rapti","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acta Geotech."},{"key":"ref_31","first-page":"64","article-title":"Liquefaction-induced road embankment failures","volume":"166","author":"Yoshimichi","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng.-Forensic Eng."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101160","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sandf.2022.101160","article-title":"Practical seismic fragility estimation of Japanese railway embankments using three seismic intensity measures","volume":"62","author":"Shinoda","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soils Found."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.1193\/021113EQS025M","article-title":"Efficient Analytical Fragility Function Fitting Using Dynamic Structural Analysis","volume":"31","author":"Baker","year":"2015","journal-title":"Earthq. Spectra"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1158","DOI":"10.1016\/j.soildyn.2010.04.024","article-title":"Fragility curves for expressway embankments based on damage datasets after recent earthquakes in Japan","volume":"30","author":"Maruyama","year":"2010","journal-title":"Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1195","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compstruc.2008.12.001","article-title":"Computationally efficient seismic fragility analysis of geostructures","volume":"87","author":"Lagaros","year":"2009","journal-title":"Comput. Struct."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1061\/9780784481479.018","article-title":"Fragility Assessment of Transportation Infrastructure Systems Subjected to Earthquakes","volume":"292","author":"Argyroudis","year":"2018","journal-title":"Geotech. Earthq. Eng. Soil Dyn."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s40091-016-0108-y","article-title":"Seismic fragility analysis of typical pre-1990 bridges due to near- and far-field ground motions","volume":"8","author":"Mosleh","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Struct. Eng."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1680\/jstbu.19.00237","article-title":"Seismic fragility of concrete bridges designed to current and older AASHTO specifications","volume":"175","author":"Manjili","year":"2021","journal-title":"Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng.-Struct. Build."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"491","DOI":"10.1002\/eqe.141","article-title":"Incremental dynamic analysis","volume":"31","author":"Vamvatsikos","year":"2002","journal-title":"Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1704","DOI":"10.1080\/13632469.2018.1477637","article-title":"Probabilistic Seismic Performance Analysis of RC Bridges","volume":"24","author":"Mosleh","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Earthq. Eng."},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"1","article-title":"A methodology for determining the seismic vulnerability of old concrete highway bridges by using fragility curves","volume":"5","author":"Mosleh","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Struct. Eng. Geotech."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"5759","article-title":"Failure Characteristics and Influencing Factors Analysis of Embankment Engineering damage due to Wenchuan Earthquake","volume":"18","author":"Lilei","year":"2013","journal-title":"Electron. J. Geotech. Eng."},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"3631","article-title":"Seismic residual deformation behavior of embankment slopes of different compaction degrees","volume":"9","author":"Lin","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Cent. South Univ. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_44","unstructured":"Brinkgreve, R.B.J., Swolfs, W.M., Engin, E., Waterman, D., Chesaru, A., Bonnier, P.G., and Galavi, V. (2010). PLAXIS 2D 2010, Bentley Systems Company. User manual."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"924592","DOI":"10.1155\/2014\/924592","article-title":"Three-Dimensional Dynamic Analyses of Track-Embankment-Ground System Subjected to High Speed Train Loads","volume":"2014","author":"Fu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sci. World J."}],"container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/13\/1\/598\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T17:55:51Z","timestamp":1760118951000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/13\/1\/598"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,1]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1]]}},"alternative-id":["app13010598"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/app13010598","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-3417"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-3417","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,1]]}}}