10146007Optimisation of Sand Drifting Mitigation Measures for Railway Infrastructure Design and MaintenanceClosedSmall Business Research InitiativeInnovate UKMeteorological events and climatic changes are creating challenges for railway rolling stock and infrastructure operators. In arid regions around the globe wind-induced sand drift can affect the safe operation of rail systems, through accumulation around buildings and within the railway corridor, potentially affecting: lineside equipment; switch operation; rolling stock function, wheel / rail condition and adhesion; rail fastener performance; and increasing the risk of catastrophic operational events including de-railments in severe cases. This can result in temporary operational speed reductions and periods of complete closure of the railway. Designers can include physical intervention measures in the form of walls, porous barriers, fences, vegetation, ground surface texture treatments, ditches or berms to alter localised sand influx patterns near to the infrastructure, with varying and largely unknown degrees of performances and success. These measures are intended to curtail the rate and dispersion of the sand deposition, but do not entirely eliminate the effects. As such, infrastructure operators need to undertake routine maintenance to clear the accumulations through various techniques, even though these physical control measures have been installed. At present, the maintainers programme a combination of planned and unplanned (responsive) maintenance events on the track, based upon a combination of manual / visual checks, on-train telemetric data and pre-determined periodic maintenance. This innovation project aims to provide both designers and operators with better information on the relative performance of the suite of known physical measures used to control wind-blown sand as a function of time, across a multitude of situational and meteorological permutations using fluid dynamics, scaled wind-tunnel testing, and potentially at the full-scale testing at the GERC, as appropriate. The resulting information is intended to enable a holistic full-life cycle assessment of the cost effectiveness and carbon management benefits of mitigation assets incorporated into the railway design, against the likely commercial and environmental burden of long term, routine sand clearance maintenance activities. In combination with information on the implications of longer range meteorological forecasting, and in the context of the specific circumstances of the railway in question at a scheme-wide and localised levels, this information will facilitate optimised lifecycle cost and carbon management planning procedures for operators of new and existing railways in regions of the world where challenging climatic changes are forecast.