CAS President Lu Yongxiang recently sent a congratulatory letter to Prof. Cheng Guodong and his team for their fruitful permafrost research for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction.
CAS President Lu Yongxiang recently sent a congratulatory letter to Prof. Cheng Guodong and his team for their fruitful permafrost research for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction.
Over the past four years, a research team led by Prof. Cheng from the CAS Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute has been working for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project in the hinterland of the Tibet Plateau above an elevation of 4,600 meters. The Railway is over 1,118 km long from Golmud to Lhasa, with a span of over 550 km continuous permafrost regions and 82 km discontinuous permafrost regions.
Permafrost is one of the most important problems in the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction. In order to ensure the roadbed stability in permafrost regions, the CAS researchers have worked out new ideas of cooling embankment to protect the permafrost basis on an accumulation of achievements in permafrost over the 40 years.
The CAS researchers have participated in the drawing up of Temporary Regulations on Engineering Reconnoitre and Engineering Design of the permafrost section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and carried out studies into road construction technologies including gravels embankment and vent-pipe roadbed techniques. They have also completed the construction of a 14-km demonstration project in Beiluhe section and initially established the long-term monitoring platform for the permafrost roadbed of the Railway.
Their major contributions are spoken highly by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway construction leading group and the Ministry of Railways, winng honor for CAS, says President Lu.
The research project is shown in an exhibition on the national Knowledge Innovation Project piloted by CAS as a key achievement. The work was appreciated by Chinese President Hu Jintao, during his visit to CAS on October 29, 2004.
