Abstract Desert railways are constantly exposed to incoming sand blown by the wind. The railway body acts as an obstacle that perturbs the wind flow and the sand drift, resulting in zones of sand sedimentation and erosion. The insight into the local flow around the railway track and resulting sedimentation patterns is a necessary prerequisite to predict and prevent sand-induced limit states.The present study generally aims at filling such a gap, by investigating the local flow and the related potential sedimentation patterns around railways. The knowledge acquired about such patterns is required in the perspective of the design of innovative on-track Receiver Sand Mitigation Measures. The study adopts a Computational Wind Engineering approach to simulate the local wind flow, to obtain the shear stress field at the ground, to derive from it sand sedimentation/erosion patterns, and to obtain bulk performance metrics. The performances of different railway substructures and track systems are discussed under different incoming wind speeds and yaw angles. The simulated sedimentation/erosion patterns qualitatively agree with the field evidences observed along desert railways. The comparative analysis shows that rails elevated by humped sleepers or slab on top of a gentle-sloped substructure perform better than other track systems.

中文翻译：

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铁路周围风流的 CWE 研究：路堤和轨道系统对沙子沉积的影响

摘要 沙漠铁路经常暴露在风吹来的沙土中。铁路车身作为障碍物，扰动风流和沙子漂移，导致沙子沉积和侵蚀带。深入了解铁路轨道周围的局部流动和由此产生的沉积模式是预测和防止沙子引起的极限状态的必要先决条件。本研究通常旨在通过调查局部流动和相关的潜在沉积模式来填补这一空白铁路周围。从设计创新的轨道接收器防砂措施的角度来看，需要获得有关此类模式的知识。该研究采用计算风工程方法模拟局部风流，获得地面剪应力场，从中得出沙子沉积/侵蚀模式，并获得整体性能指标。讨论了不同铁路基础结构和轨道系统在不同来风速度和偏航角下的性能。模拟的沉积/侵蚀模式与沿沙漠铁路观察到的现场证据定性一致。比较分析表明，在缓坡下部结构顶部由驼峰轨枕或平板架起的钢轨比其他轨道系统性能更好。