Effect of snow fence in railway cutting area under action of snow-drifting

Abstract:

To reduce the effect of snow deposition on railway lines caused by snow-drifting and study the structure and layout of snow fences that can have maximum protection effect, a numerical analysis model of snow-drifting based on Euler multiphase flow model was established, and the applicability of the numerical model was verified by an engineering example. The variation characteristics of snow amount inside and outside the railway cutting area and on both sides of the snow fence were investigated under the conditions of different porosities, heights, and layout distances of snow fences. Through L16 (4⁵) orthogonal test, the main factors affecting the volume of snow deposition inside and outside the railway cutting area were obtained. Results show that the snow distribution patterns of the proposed numerical model inside and outside the cutting area and on both sides of the snow fence were consistent with those in the field test section. The structure of snow fences mainly affected the snow volume deposited outside the cutting area, while the main factor affecting the amount of snow inside railway cutting area was the distance between snow fence and roadbed. The distance of snow deposition on the windward side of the snow fence was about 20 m, and that on the leeward side of the snow fence was generally 10–12 times of the height of the snow fence. In the orthogonal test, the optimal combination of snow fence structure and layout distance could decrease the snow volume on the top of roadbed caused by snow-drifting by at most 26.17%. According to the distance between snow fence and cutting area, the snow deposition amount and position could be changed by adjusting the snow fence porosity and height to increase the effect of the snow fence.