Fiber-Reinforced Sand-Fixing Board Based on the Concept of “Sand Control with Sand”: Experimental Design, Testing, and Application

Abstract

Harsh conditions, such as the lack of raw materials and high transportation costs, impede the construction of desert railway sand control projects. Against this background, aeolian sand along the desert railway was used in a study on “sand control with sand.” According to the mechanical properties and durability tests, as well as field observations, the enhancement effect of fiber (cloth) on the performance of a sand-fixing board made of aeolian sand was analyzed. Based on the results, the mechanical strength of the sand-fixing board increased with increasing fiber content and length, and the maximum increase in compressive strength and flexural strength reached 2.15 and 0.59 times, respectively. The addition of fiber significantly improved the frost resistance, effectively reducing the mass loss rate of the board by an average of 60%. With increasing fiber content and length, the improvement effect of the freeze–thaw strength loss rate of the sand-fixing board first decreased and then increased. The results show that the performance of sand-fixing boards reached the engineering application standard under the reinforcement of the fiber (cloth), successfully establishing the concept of “sand control with sand.”

An Optimization Model for a Desert Railway Route Scheme Based on Interval Number and TOPSIS

“…The evaluation index system is the basis of railway alignment scheme optimization. Combined with the above analyses on the railway design, wind-blown sand hazard, and environmental impact of the desert railway, an evaluation index system of a route scheme for a desert railway including three first-level indicators and fifteen second-level indicators was constructed based on the literature analysis, field investigation, and expert consultation [29,30], as presented in Table 1.…”