Development of a snowdrift model with the lattice Boltzmann method

Seika Tanji,Masaru Inatsu,Tsubasa Okaze

doi:10.1186/s40645-021-00449-0

Seika Tanji, Masaru Inatsu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-021-00449-0

Copy DOI

Abstract

We developed a snowdrift model to evaluate the snowdrift height around snow fences, which are often installed along roads in snowy, windy locations. The model consisted of the conventional computational fluid dynamics solver that used the lattice Boltzmann method and a module for calculating the snow particles’ motion and accumulation. The calculation domain was a half channel with a flat free-slip boundary on the top and a non-slip boundary on the bottom, and an inflow with artificially generated turbulence from one side to the outlet side was imposed. In addition to the reference experiment with no fence, experiments were set up with a two-dimensional and a three-dimensional fence normal to the dominant wind direction in the channel center. The estimated wind flow over the two-dimensional fence was characterized by a swirling eddy in the cross section, whereas the wind flow in the three-dimensional fence experiment was horizontally diffluent with a dipole vortex pair on the leeward side of the fence. Almost all the snowdrift formed on the windward side of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional fences, although the snowdrift also formed along the split streaks on the leeward side of the three-dimensional fence. Our results suggested that the fence should be as long as possible to avoid snowdrifts on roads.

Highlights

Snowdrifts are patchy accumulations of snow resulting mainly from the redistribution of snow particles on the ground by drifting snow, which is the horizontal movement of snow particles by creep and saltation on the surface
The snow particles were driven by the wind flow in the channel sampled from the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model experiment with the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM)
The snow particles’ motion was modeled following Nishimura and Hunt (2000) and Nemoto and Nishimura (2004) and the accumulation was computed as a function of the friction velocity in the viscosity layer

Summary

Introduction

Snowdrifts are patchy accumulations of snow resulting mainly from the redistribution of snow particles on the ground by drifting snow, which is the horizontal movement of snow particles by creep and saltation on the surface. Numerical simulations of drifting snow were pioneered in the 1990s by Uematsu et al (1991) and Liston et al (1993) These studies used a wind simulation based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations model with turbulence parameterizations, such as K-theory and the k-ε model. These models reproduced the snowdrift distribution around a simple snow fence. Some studies extended these models to include drifting snow processes due to multiple snow events that were more complicated (Beyers et al 2004; Tominaga et al 2011a, 2011b). Turbulent wind is strongly affected by the fixed boundaries, including topography and artificial obstacles, and by snow surfaces that vary temporally due to snowdrifts

Methods

Results

Conclusion