Recently, an innovative construction technology was successfully applied in the Pazhi Hydropower Hub Project in Tibet, which has attracted widespread attention. The first mov large-span pneumatic braced membrane warehouse at high altitude in the country has been put into use, bringing new breakthroughs to the asphalt concrete core wall filling of the dam effectively promoting the construction progress of the major water conservancy project Pazhi Hydropower.

The Pazhi Water Conservancy Project is one of the 150 major water conservancy projects in the country and is also a key project in “14th Five-Year Plan” National and Tibet Water Security Guarantee Plan. Its construction is of great significance. However, the construction environment in the high-altitude and area where the project is located is extremely harsh. From December to April of the next year, the winter is cold and windy, with a large difference in temperature between day and, and the lowest temperature approaches -20℃; during the spring and winter seasons, the wind and sand are rampant, with the wind speed often reaching level 4-8 and even the gust can reach level 10-12; from July to September, the rainy season is frequent and lasts for a long time.

The membrane structure of this project is composed of large-span air ribs with a size of 56m×102m×24m covering a total construction area of 5700㎡. The structure is easy to install and dismantle, and has a high reusability rate, achieving an in- integration of materials science, intelligent control, and structural engineering. The bottom foundation of the air rib membrane structure adopts prefabricated and modular structures, and the large-span air ribs are fixed on the self-developed movable track platform. Through the motor drive of the moving platform, it can move back and forth on the construction operation surface, which effectively solve the problems of wind and rain prevention and winter insulation in the construction of asphalt concrete core wall in high altitude areas, and is conducive to speeding up the construction and improving the project quality, which is to press the “accelerator” key for the asphalt concrete core wall filling of the Pazhi Hydropower Station in Tibet

The successful application of the air-rib membrane warehouse technology not only brings significant benefits to the Pazi water conservancy hub project but also provides valuable experience for waterancy construction in cold and high-altitude areas. In the future, the innovative research of Pazi water conservancy project is expected to play an important role in more fields, infrastructure construction to a new height.