Abstract
The removal of snow from a road or railroad results in an uneven surface and thus the formation of snowdrifts. However, the effect of a surface bump on the scale of a snowdrift is not clear. Snowdrift wind tunnel tests have long been performed to predict the snow cover distribution due to a snowstorm. However, such tests require a large-scale experimental device, have high installation and maintenance costs, and are not easy to perform. The present study thus used a small water tunnel that is easier to implement. The snowdrift pattern for the real phenomenon of a cube model was reproduced using the small water tunnel and the performance of the tunnel thus verified. The snowdrift water tunnel was then used to predict the snowdrift distribution for uneven surfaces. The tunnel well reproduced the snow cover distribution when the sedimentation velocity ratio and Stokes number in the water tunnel test were the same as those for the real phenomenon, again verifying the performance of the water tunnel test.
Highlights
IntroductionJapan is a country that experiences frequent snowfall which may cause various types of disasters or accidents in direct and indirect manners
The snowdrift pattern for the real phenomenon of a cube model was reproduced in the water tunnel test section, and the feasibility of predicting a snowdrift pattern was investigated by comparison with the field test results
Conditions that need to be similar in the real phenomenon and the wind tunnel test are the angle of repose, the Froude number, the Stokes parameter, the snowdrift form and the sedimentation velocity ratio, which is the critical ratio at which particles are moved by the wind
Summary
Japan is a country that experiences frequent snowfall which may cause various types of disasters or accidents in direct and indirect manners. Snowflakes are drifted leeward and accumulate in any place where the wind flow is weakened, which results in a formation of snow-mound defined as snowdrift. The removal of snow from a road or railroad will typically produce an uneven surface, and a snowdrift can pile high around such bumps. The scale of snowdrift has been clearly shown to depend on the snowfall, air temperature, and wind speed based on the previously conducted researches. Snowdrift wind-tunnel tests have long been conducted for the prediction of the snow cover distribution due to a snowstorm. Such testing requires a large-scale experimental device that has high installation and maintenance costs and is difficult to use. The numerical analysis was performed so as to seek its applicability to the snowdrift formation as the complex two-phase flow problem
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