Effects of different types of guardrails on sand transportation of desert highway pavement

doi:10.1007/s40333-022-0030-z

Journal of Arid Land

2022, Vol. 14

Issue (9): 993-1008 DOI: 10.1007/s40333-022-0030-z CSTR: 32276.14.s40333-022-0030-z

Research article

Effects of different types of guardrails on sand transportation of desert highway pavement

GAO Li¹, CHENG Jianjun¹^,^*(

), WANG Haifeng²^,^*(

), YUAN Xinxin²

¹College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
²Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830000, China

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Abstract

Guardrail, an important highway traffic safety facility, is mainly used to prevent vehicles from accidentally driving off the road and to ensure driving safety. Desert highway guardrails hinder the movement of wind-blown sand, resulting in the decline of sand transportation by the pavement and the deposition of sand gains on the pavement, and endangering traffic safety. To reveal the influence of guardrails on sand transportation of desert highway pavement, we tested the flow field and sand transport volume distribution around the concrete, W-beam, and cable guardrails under different wind velocities through wind tunnel simulation. Wind velocity attenuation coefficients, sand transportation quantity, and sand transportation efficiency are used to measure sand transportation of highway pavement. The results show that the sand transportation of highway pavement was closely related to the zoning characteristics of flow field and variation of wind velocity around the guardrails. The flow field of the concrete guardrail was divided into deceleration, acceleration, and vortex zones. The interaction between the W-beam guardrail and wind-blown sand was similar to that of lower wind deflector. Behind and under the plates, there were the vortex zone and acceleration zone, respectively. The acceleration zone was conducive to transporting sand on the pavement. The cable guardrail only caused wind velocity variability within the height range of guardrail, and there was no sand deposition on the highway pavement. When the cable, W-beam, and concrete guardrails were used, the total transportation quantities on the highway pavement were 423.53, 415.74, and 136.53 g/min, respectively, and sand transportation efficiencies were 99.31%, 91.25%, and 12.84%, respectively. From the perspective of effective sand transportation on the pavement, the cable guardrail should be preferred as a desert highway guardrail, followed by the W-beam guardrail, and the concrete guardrail is unsuitable. The study results provide theoretical basis for the optimal design of desert highway guardrails and the prevention of wind-blown sand disasters on the highway pavement.

Key words： desert highway wind-blown sand guardrail sand transportation capacity wind tunnel test

Received: 04 May 2022 Published: 30 September 2022

Corresponding Authors: ^*CHENG Jianjun (E-mail: chengdesign@126.com);WANG Haifeng (E-mail: wanghf@ms.xjb.ac.cn)

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Cite this article:

GAO Li, CHENG Jianjun, WANG Haifeng, YUAN Xinxin. Effects of different types of guardrails on sand transportation of desert highway pavement. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(9): 993-1008.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-022-0030-z OR http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2022/V14/I9/993

Fig. 1 Sand deposition near the guardrails of desert highways. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail (Li et al., 2016); (c), cable guardrail.

Fig. 2 Layout of the flow field test. H is the height of guardrail.

Fig. 3 Flow field and sediment transport measurement. (a), pitot rube; (b), concrete guardrail; (c), W-beam guardrail; (d), cable guardrail.

Fig. 4 Wind velocity profiles of the simulated boundary layer

Fig. 5 Isoline maps of wind velocity distribution around different types of guardrail under the velocity of 12 m/s. The positive and negative values represent the leeward and windward sides of guardrail, respectively. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail; (c), cable guardrail.

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram for streamline distribution around the guardrail. R_u is the clockwise vortex zone on the windward side, and R_d is the reversed flow region on the leeward side. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail; (c), cable guardrail.

Fig. 7 Wind velocity attenuation coefficient (WVAC) of different types of guardrail under the wind velocities of 8, 10, 12, and 14 m/s. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail; (c), cable guardrail.

Fig. 8 Sand transportation quantity (STQ) of the highway pavement at 5.0H on the leeward side of guardrail under the wind velocities of 8 (a), 10 (b), 12 (c), and 14 m/s (d)

Table 1 Distribution of sand transportation quantity (STQ) on the highway pavement at 5.0H on the leeward side of guardrail under the wind velocities of 8, 10, 12, and 14 m/s

Fig. 9 Sand transportation quantity (STQ) of the highway pavement at different horizontal positions on the leeward side of guardrail. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail; (c), cable guardrail.

Fig. 10 Total sand transportation quantity (TSTQ) of the highway pavement on the leeward side of guardrail

Fig. 11 Sand transportation efficiency (STE) of the highway pavement of different types of guardrail under the wind velocities of 8 (a), 10 (b), 12 (c), and 14 m/s (d)

Fig. 12 Sand deposition around the guardrail. (a), concrete guardrail; (b), W-beam guardrail; (c), cable guardrail.

Table 2 Wind ventilation area, wind resistance area, and porosity of the guardrail


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