Characteristics of sand damages and dynamic environment along the Tuotuohe section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Sand damages along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway occur frequently and have spread rapidly since it was completely opened to traffic in 2006. The goal of this study was to understand the effects of sand damages on the railway via meteorological data and in situ observation of wind-blown sand. We selected the Tuotuohe section of this railway as a typical research object, and we systematically investigated its characteristics of sand damages, drift potential, sand-driving wind rose, and their time variation. The direction of sand-drifting wind clearly varies with the season. In winter, the predominant wind blows from the west and lasts for three months, while in summer the frequency of northeasterly wind begins to increase and multi-directional winds also occurs in July. The drift potential in this area is 705.81 VU, which makes this a high-energy wind environment according to Fryberger＇s definition. The directional variability （RDP/DP） is 0.84 and the resultant drift potential is 590.42 VU with a resultant direction of 89.1°.

Influence of Golmud-Lhasa Section of Qinghai-Tibet Railway on Blown Sand Transport

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway(QTR) passes through 281 km of sandy land, 11.07 km of which causes serious sand damage to the railway and thus, the control of blown sand is important for the safe operation of the railway. Construction of the railway and sand prevention system greatly changed the blown sand transport of the primary surface. Effective and feasible sand-control measures include stone checkerboard barriers(SCBs), sand fences(SFs), and gravel coverings. This study simulated the embankments, SCBs and SFs of the QTR in a wind tunnel, and analyzed their respective wind profile, sand deposition, and sand-blocking rate(SBR) in conjunction with field data, aiming at studying the influence of Golmud-Lhasa section of the QTR and sand prevention system on blown sand transport. The results of wind tunnel experiments showed that wind speed increased by 67.7%–77.3% at the upwind shoulder of the embankment and decreased by 50.0%–83.3% at upwind foot of embankment. Wind speed decreased by 50.0%–100.0% after passing through the first SF, and 72.2%–100.0% after the first row of stones within the first SCB grid. In the experiment of sand deposition, the higher the wind speed, the lower the SBR of SCB and SF. From field investigation, the amount of sand blocked by the four SFs decreased exponentially and its SBR was about 50.0%. By contrast, SCB could only block lower amounts of sand, but had a higher SBR(96.7%) than SF. Although, results show that SFs and SCBs along the Golmud-Lhasa section of the QTR provide an obvious sand blocking effect, they lead to the deposition of a large amount of sand, which forms artificial dunes and becomes a new source of sand damage.