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Arid Land Geography ›› 2022, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (4): 1093-1102.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2021.539

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Influence of sand control system on aeolian sand flow near the ground surface in Provincial Highway 214 in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

LI Shengyu1,2(),LI Wenming3,SUN Yi4,ZHAO Chunyu1,5,YU Xiangxiang1,2,WANG Haifeng1,2,WANG Shijie1,2,QU Lei6   

  1. 1. National Engineering Technology Research Center for Desert-Oasis Ecological Construction, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3. Transportation Bureau of the Second Division, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Korla 841007, Xinjiang, China
    4. Transportation Development Center of the Second Division, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Korla 841007, Xinjiang, China
    5. College of Pratacultural Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, Xinjiang, China
    6. Highway Science and Technology Research Institute, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2021-11-15 Revised:2022-01-19 Online:2022-07-25 Published:2022-08-11

Abstract:

Traffic line is an important infrastructure, and aeolian sand activity is a crucial threat to traffic safety. Sand disaster prevention and control is essential for road construction in arid regions. After 1949, China has conducted several road sand disaster control works in arid and semiarid regions and accumulated extensive sand control technology and experience. However, the road sand disaster control in strong wind and sandy areas is less successful than that in other areas. Provincial Highway S214 in the dry lake basin section of Taitema Lake in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China is located in such a typical aeolian environment. In recent years, new highway sand prevention projects have been implemented, and the road sand damage has been well controlled. This study investigates the effectiveness of the new sand control system. Synchronous observation of the sand transport via wind flow and wind speed using the sand control system showed that a large amount of aeolian sand was intercepted in the sand-blocking and sand-fixing belts of the sand control system, and the wind speed near the ground surface remained strong. However, 43.26% of the sand transport can still be intercepted and fixed by the sand control system, and the rest can be moved to the downwind side of the highway by the large wind in the sand-transporting belt without damaging the road surface sand. These results showed that the sand control system with its combined resistance and solid transport is suitable for the strong sand environment with unidirectional wind in the Taitema Lake dry lake basin. This aeolian sand prevention practice serves an important reference for highway sand prevention in other areas with strong aeolian environment.

Key words: strong aeolian environment, sand control system, sand-transporting belt, sand flow transport, sand control benefit