If the tunnel drainage pipes are blocked, the supporting structures will be in danger because they would receive more force than before. In order to investigate the blocking problem, some laboratory tests and in situ experiments were carried out. Microtests showed that the main component of crystal is calcium carbonate. Calcium ions, carbonate ions, and bicarbonate ions of groundwater should be related to the crystal. The polyvinyl chloride pipe, hydrophobic antistatic self-cleaning coated pipe, silicone rubber coated pipe, pipe under electromagnetic field, polytetrafluoroethylene coated pipe, and polyethylene coated pipe were used in laboratory and field experiments. The laboratory results showed that the electromagnetic field may be the best method to prevent crystallization because the crystallizing weight was less than 0.1 g in 30 days. The field tests showed that there was less crystals on the inner surface of hydrophobic antistatic self-cleaning coated pipe than that of the polyvinyl chloride pipe and the polytetrafluoroethylene coated pipe. The crystallization prevention effects of the other experimental pipes need more studies to examine.

AbstractWith the rapid development of traffic infrastructure in China, the problem of crystal plugging of tunnel drainage pipes becomes increasingly salient. In order to build a mechanism that is resilient to the crystal plugging of flocking drainage pipes, the present study used the numerical simulation to analyze the two-dimensional flow field distribution characteristics of flocking drainage pipes under different flocking spacings. Then, the results were compared with the laboratory test results. According to the results, the maximum velocity distribution in the flow field of flocking drainage pipes is closely related to the transverse distance h of the fluff, while the longitudinal distance h of the fluff causes little effect; when the transverse distance h of the fluff is less than 6.25D (D refers to the diameter of the fluff), the velocity between the adjacent transverse fluffs will be increased by more than 10%. Moreover, the velocity of the upstream and downstream fluffs will be decreased by 90% compared with that of the inlet; the crystal distribution can be more obvious in the place with larger velocity while it is less at the lower flow rate. The results can provide theoretical support for building a mechanism to deal with and remove the crystallization of flocking drainage pipes.

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To solve the problem of blockage of crystallization in tunnel drainage pipes in hard water area, electric field devices are designed and applied in the transversal tunnel drainage pipe according to the fundamental law of crystallization. Laboratory tests were carried out to test the crystallizing tunnel drainage pipe under the effect of electric field in order to study the law of electric field impact on crystallization in tunnel drainage pipes in hard water area. The test results indicate that the arranged circumferential and parallel plate electric field devices can form an electrical field within a narrow and small space inside the pipe and influence the ion movement in water and adsorption performance between crystals and the pipe. Under the condition of full flow, the amount of crystals in the ordinary pipe without electric field treatment increases progressively along water flow direction and remains relatively uniform later. The amount of crystals along the water flow direction of the pipe treated with circumferential and parallel plate electric fields presents signs of fluctuation in the early stage and then stableness later. The amount of crystals in the fluctuating section is higher and lower in the uniform section, and its uniform section length is longer than that in ordinary pipes. Under the condition of full current, crystallizing speed declines with elapse of running time. After the electric field is imposed, crystallizing acceleration progressively decreased to a relatively lower level. Comparing three voltages of 5 V, 12 V, and 24 V, the effect of scale inhibition under 5 V is superior. When water amount in the pipe varies, the effects of scale inhibition under different electric field modes are different. The electric field effect causes the changes of the external form of calcium carbonate crystal and its surface abrasion, porous crystal, and structural looseness.

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