China Science & Technology Awards: Team honored for research into building in cold regions

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One of the winners of the innovation team in this year's China National Science and Technology Awards is a team that has been researching construction on permafrost for almost half a century. Their work made the completion of Qinghai-Tibet Railway possible in 2006. CGTN's Zheng Yibing interviewed one of the team leaders, and filed this report.

A railway on the world's highest plateau. Its biggest challenge was the unstable permafrost. One of the people who solved that problem was Cheng Guodong.

CHENG GUODONG CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEMBER "Since I graduated in the 1960s, I've been doing research on permafrost, following my predecessors. The railway line went through twists and turns, and I never left my job."

ZHENG YIBING BEIJING "Cheng Guodong's research focuses on infrastructure construction projects in regions which have permafrost, such as the building of railways and highways. It's quite a complex line of work for his team."

The construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway started in 1958. Despite the permafrost, the ground on the surface of the plateau does melt, with the ground expanding when freezes, and turning into slush when it thaws. This threatens to deform and destroy any construction built on it, including the railway, so the roadbed soils need to be kept frozen.

CHENG GUODONG CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEMBER "There are three major ways to keep permafrost stable. Regulate the radiation, the convection and conduction patterns of heat. We use many ways to increase efficiency, which are environment-friendly, low-cost, and easy to adopt. And we constantly make changes due to new conditions."

More projects are planned for the plateau, including an expressway and an oil pipeline. And knowledge gleaned from a surprise discovery just 200 kilometers from Beijing will help.

NIU FUJUN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR STATE KEY LAB OF FROZEN SOIL ENGINEERING "In a recent study in Chengde in Hebei province, we unexpectedly found permafrost only two meters under the ground. But the mean annual air temperature there is 7.8 degrees Celsius. We made comparisons to the conditions of the permafrost under the railway on the plateau."

The research is needed to make sure the cooling system for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway works, even when temperatures rise due to global warming. And their mission goes beyond that. A new railway linking China and Russia is also on the agenda.

CHENG GUODONG CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEMBER "If the railway is completed, a lot can be transported along it, but the regions it crosses are basically frozen."

To complete this railway that will cross Asia and Europe, the team is expanding its cooperation with other countries. And it will hold an International Conference on Permafrost in 2020.

Cheng Guodong is glad his team has won a national award, and he hopes more funds will be given to scientists, especially those in China's vast western regions. ZHENG YIBING, CGTN, BEIJING.