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Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment

Oxygen deficiency and coldness are the main challenges for highway tunnel construction in high-altitude areas such as western Sichuan plateau. The artificial oxygen supply and anti-freezing structure in the tunnel construction process has a significant impact on vocational health and the environment...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wu, Peng, Yang, Feng, Zheng, Jinlong, Wei, Yanqing
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926929/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31771181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234671
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author Wu, Peng
Yang, Feng
Zheng, Jinlong
Wei, Yanqing
author_facet Wu, Peng
Yang, Feng
Zheng, Jinlong
Wei, Yanqing
author_sort Wu, Peng
collection PubMed
description Oxygen deficiency and coldness are the main challenges for highway tunnel construction in high-altitude areas such as western Sichuan plateau. The artificial oxygen supply and anti-freezing structure in the tunnel construction process has a significant impact on vocational health and the environment. Thus, the conditions of tunnels need to be carefully evaluated before construction. However, the current design code for tunnel construction contains few instructions about these aspects. This paper attempts to establish a simple evaluation method to guide the construction design by analyzing the oxygen partial pressure of trachea, the mean temperature of the coldest month, and the maximum freezing depth for tunnel projects in western Sichuan plateau. Based on the on-site meteorological monitoring at different altitudes of three typical tunnels in the western Sichuan plateau and the comparative analysis of the existing meteorological data, the corresponding relationships between the three parameters and the altitude were investigated. The thresholds by altitude for grading the tunnels are identified as 2100 m and 4200 m, respectively. The highway tunnels in the western Sichuan plateau are graded in three categories, namely, general-altitude tunnels, high-altitude tunnels, and ultra-high-altitude tunnels. The corresponding measures of oxygen supply and freezing prevention for different graded tunnels are recommended. The results would provide a basis for the design and construction of new tunnels and enhance the service life and operations safety of the tunnels in western Sichuan plateau and other similar high-altitude areas.
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spelling pubmed-69269292019-12-23 Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment Wu, Peng Yang, Feng Zheng, Jinlong Wei, Yanqing Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Oxygen deficiency and coldness are the main challenges for highway tunnel construction in high-altitude areas such as western Sichuan plateau. The artificial oxygen supply and anti-freezing structure in the tunnel construction process has a significant impact on vocational health and the environment. Thus, the conditions of tunnels need to be carefully evaluated before construction. However, the current design code for tunnel construction contains few instructions about these aspects. This paper attempts to establish a simple evaluation method to guide the construction design by analyzing the oxygen partial pressure of trachea, the mean temperature of the coldest month, and the maximum freezing depth for tunnel projects in western Sichuan plateau. Based on the on-site meteorological monitoring at different altitudes of three typical tunnels in the western Sichuan plateau and the comparative analysis of the existing meteorological data, the corresponding relationships between the three parameters and the altitude were investigated. The thresholds by altitude for grading the tunnels are identified as 2100 m and 4200 m, respectively. The highway tunnels in the western Sichuan plateau are graded in three categories, namely, general-altitude tunnels, high-altitude tunnels, and ultra-high-altitude tunnels. The corresponding measures of oxygen supply and freezing prevention for different graded tunnels are recommended. The results would provide a basis for the design and construction of new tunnels and enhance the service life and operations safety of the tunnels in western Sichuan plateau and other similar high-altitude areas. MDPI 2019-11-23 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6926929/ /pubmed/31771181 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234671 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wu, Peng
Yang, Feng
Zheng, Jinlong
Wei, Yanqing
Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title_full Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title_fullStr Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title_short Evaluating the Highway Tunnel Construction in Western Sichuan Plateau Considering Vocational Health and Environment
title_sort evaluating the highway tunnel construction in western sichuan plateau considering vocational health and environment
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926929/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31771181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234671
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