A research proposal presented by researchers from the CAS Cold & Arid Regions Environmental & Engineering Research Institute (CAREER) to monitor the pavement stability of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has recently passed the scrutiny of an expert panel in Lanzhou, capital of the northwest China's Gansu Province.
Against the background of global warming and with the impact of dynamic loading of the locomotives, scientists are increasingly concerned with changes in soundness of the rail's pavement that is built in the permafrost of the region, according to WU Qingbai and leader of the pre-study. In addition, because no trial operation has been made and the speed of the trains has been kept rising, the pavement's thermal stability and long-time reliability of the Railway might be impaired, adds Wu.
Also, a network of high-grade expressways and highways on the Plateau is to be constructed on the basis of newly built Qinghai-Tibet Railway in a bid to satisfy a new round of soaring socio-economic development in Tibet Autonomous Region.
Via the pre-construction research on highways passing through the permafrost areas, a complete set of theoretical principles and technical specifications and practical methods is to be developed, including a technical system for cooling the pavement as a demo-project on standardizing the related building technology.
