## 5 Limitations and Future Work  
Despite the insights gained, this study has certain limitations. First, it utilizes viscous silica sand as a snow analog, which, although controllable and reproducible, does not fully replicate the physical behavior of real snow particles, particularly in terms of cohesion, melting, and sublimation. Second, the scaling laws used in the geometric modeling (1:30 scale) may not perfectly capture complex full-scale interactions, especially turbulence near fence edges and particle rebound effects. To improve accuracy, future work should address the following:  
1. Integrate Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in wind tunnel setups to obtain high-resolution velocity fields and enhance flow visualization around fences and embankments. 2. Conduct comparative experiments using natural or artificial snow particles to better simulate real-world snow dynamics. 3. Develop computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models calibrated by wind tunnel results to explore larger-scale and more varied scenarios. 4. Investigate multi-factor coupling effects, such as wind-blown snow under thermal gradients, terrain complexity, and evolving snowpack densification. These efforts will enhance the reliability of simulation methods and provide a more robust scientific basis for snowdrift control in railway engineering. Conceptualization, S.Q. and M.B. ; methodology, S.Q. ; software, H.X. ; validation, M.B. and D.L. ; formal analysis, Z.T. ; investigation, H.X. and D.L. ; resources, M.B. ; data curation, S.Q. ; writing--original draft preparation, S.Q. ; writing--review and editing, Z.T. ; visualization, H.X. ; supervision, M.B. ; project administration, D.L. ; funding acquisition, M.B. and D.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China Projects (No: 42372325) and the Major Projects of Financial Science and Technology Plan of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (No: 2020 AA002). Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. Acknowledgments: The authors deeply appreciate the Editor and the anonymous reviewer for their useful comments, especially for the comments marked on the hard copy of the MS. The authors are most grateful for this support. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. References References  
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