Study on safety risk evolution paths and prevention of drilling and blasting method in railway tunnel construction in mountainous areas

Safety risks of drilling and blasting method are prominent in the construction of railway tunnels in mountainous areas. Exploring the evolution paths of safety risks and putting forward safety risk prevention and control measures is of great significance to reduce safety accidents. In view of the construction characteristics of the drilling and blasting method for railway tunnels in mountainous areas, text mining was used to analyze historical safety accident data, railway standards and specifications data, site safety risk assessment reports, and related research literature, etc. Combined with 4M1E theory and expert experience, the main safety risk factors and safety risk events of the drilling and blasting method for railway tunnels in mountainous areas were identified. By using qualitative analysis method, combined with field investigation and expert interview, the relationships among safety risk factors, safety risk events, safety risk factors and events were extracted, and the safety risk evolution network model of drilling and blasting construction of railway tunnels in mountainous areas was constructed. Based on risk evolution theory and complex network theory, the node importance degree and edge criticality of safety risk evolution network of drilling and blasting construction of railway tunnel in mountain area were analyzed by multiple indices such as degree centrality, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficient, eigenvector centrality and intermediate centrality so as to determine the evolution paths of key chains and propose safety risk prevention and control measures. The results show that the safety risks of drilling and blasting construction of railway tunnels in mountainous areas include 41 major safety risk factors in 5 categories of personnel, equipment, technology, management and environment, and 6 major safety risk events such as landslides and water gushing. 8 key nodes, 20 key edges, and 3 key chains in the safety risk evolution network are identified, and safety risk prevention and control measures are proposed for the risk evolution paths of the key chains. It provides reference for improving the safety risk management level of railway tunnel construction by drilling and blasting method in mountainous areas. © 2024, Central South University Press. All rights reserved.