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Windblown sand characteristics and hazard control measures for the Lanzhou–Wulumuqi high-speed railway

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Abstract

The Lanzhou–Wulumuqi high-speed railway is the first high-speed railway in China which extends through vast strong wind areas in Gobi Desert. To ensure the safety of train operation, measures to control windblown sand-related hazards were adopted. This paper presents a study on the characteristics of windblown sand related to the gale activities, the grain size distribution of wind-sand flow, and the wind-sand flow concentration, followed by introducing the corresponding measures adopted to control and mitigate the hazards caused by the windblown sand. The details of monitoring programs were also discussed, and monitoring data after completion of the project were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures. The four-year monitoring data revealed that most grains of sand can be intercepted by sand control measures on the upwind side of the railway, whereas insignificant grains of sand would inevitably still deposit on the railway. One-year field monitoring data show the control measures are very effective, and the average thickness of aeolian sand on the railway was reduced to 2.3 cm when using the control measures from 6.6 cm without taking any measures.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the grants for special testing on traffic safety under windy conditions provided by the Lanzhou–Wulumuqi High-speed Railway (Z2014-034). The authors are thankful to the editor and reviewers for their insights and inspiration which made the paper presented in this version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Long Shi

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Key Laboratory of High-Speed Railway Engineering, Ministry of Education, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Dongyuan Wang

  3. Northwest Research Institute Co., Ltd. of China Railway Engineering Corporation, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Kaichong Li

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  1. Long Shi
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  2. Dongyuan Wang
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  3. Kaichong Li
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Correspondence to Dongyuan Wang.

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Shi, L., Wang, D. & Li, K. Windblown sand characteristics and hazard control measures for the Lanzhou–Wulumuqi high-speed railway. Nat Hazards 104, 353–374 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04172-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04172-9

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