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Characteristics of thawed interlayer and its effect on embankment settlement along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in permafrost regions

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Abstract

The formation of thawed interlayer beneath embankment can result in embankment settlement in permafrost regions. Based on the data on ground temperatures and deformations beneath the embankment, observed in-situ along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in permafrost regions from 2006 to 2013, characteristics of the thawed interlayer beneath the embankment and its influence on the embankment settlement are studied. The results indicate that the thawed interlayer hardly forms beneath the natural field, and beneath the embankments from the Qinghai-Tibet Railway the thawed interlayer develops widely, and it can be refrozen totally in the regions with lower mean annual ground temperature, and developed further in the regions with higher mean annual ground temperature. The thawed interlayer is closely related to the embankment settlement. The ice content of permafrost underlying the thawed interlayer influences the settlement of embankment. The higher the ice content is, the larger the settlement is, and vice versa. The increase in thickness of thawed interlayer mainly results from the decline of artificial permafrost table in high-temperature permafrost regions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41571064, 41630636 and 41471061) and the Independent Research of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering (SKLFSE-ZT-09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Zhi-zhong Sun, Wei Ma, Shu-juan Zhang, Yan-hu Mu, Han-bo Yun & Hong-lei Wang

  2. Beiluhe Observation and Research Station on Frozen Soil Engineering and Environment in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Golmud, 816000, China

    Han-bo Yun

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hong-lei Wang

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  1. Zhi-zhong Sun
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  2. Wei Ma
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  3. Shu-juan Zhang
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  4. Yan-hu Mu
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  5. Han-bo Yun
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Correspondence to Zhi-zhong Sun.

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Sun, Zz., Ma, W., Zhang, Sj. et al. Characteristics of thawed interlayer and its effect on embankment settlement along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in permafrost regions. J. Mt. Sci. 15, 1090–1100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4643-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4643-1

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