Study on Sand-Accumulation Changes of Highway and Formation Mechanism of Sand Damage in Drifting Dunes Areas

Abstract

After the construction of desert highway, the physiognomy changes caused by surface wind erosion and accumulation not only seriously threaten the stability of road structure, but also have a tremendous impact on the safety of the highway operation and the maintenance work on the highway. The purpose of this paper is to explore the change of sand sedimentation and the law of sand transport along the highway in the moving dune areas, and to clarify the change of sand flow and the formation mechanism of sand damage in the moving dune areas. Taking the test section of Wuhai-Maqin Expressway in the hinterland of Tengger Desert as the research object, the on-site observation of sand accumulation and the recording of wind information by small weather stations were adopted, supplemented by CFD numerical simulation method, in order to provide reference for the construction of sand control system in moving dune areas. The study results show that: (1) Dunes not only obstruct wind-drift sand but are also the sediment source condition for forming road sand. The windward dunes near the road are affected by wind and the deposition of sand will quickly bury the road in the strong wind season. (2) Compared with highways with flat terrain, the existence of dunes affects the flow field structure and the distribution of sand sedimentation on the highway, in which, under the influence of the gathering effect, the flow velocity reaches the maximum at the top of the dune and a large low-speed recirculation zone is formed on the lee side of the dune, easily causing sand accumulation. (3) Sediment accumulates at the windward side of the embankment or dune where sandy air current is easy to saturate. However, with the increase of wind speed, in addition to the grit carried by the sandy air current itself, new sand rolled up on the windward side of the dunes also form deposits on the road surface and the amount of sand-accumulation on highway surface and leeward side tends to increase. As a result, for the highway in drifting sand dunes areas, sediment prevention and control measures should be taken actively. It is necessary to remove sediment from the road in time and reduce the moving speed of sand dunes and the deposition range of wind-sand flow, ultimately for the purpose of reducing the damage wind-sand activity causes to the highway in desert.