Experiments on natural snow distribution around simplified building models based on open air snow-wind combined experimental facility

Abstract

In previous studies, snowdrifts around different buildings have been investigated in wind or water tunnels, or in the outdoor environment, to ensure proper accessibility and the safety of structures. The pattern of snowdrifts is strongly connected to the speed and incidence angle of the wind. Two sets of experiments have been undertaken to investigate the influence of wind on snowdrift accumulation around a model and another set of experiments have been undertaken to explore the influence on two separated models. The building model is a wooden cube with dimensions of 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.5 m. The experiments are carried out in an open air snow-wind combined experimental facility, which is situated outdoors, like an open air wind tunnel with a snowfall simulator. The facility can produce a stable wind field and snowfall environment for a specific duration. During the experiments, environmental conditions, like temperature and humidity were measured on a PC-4 automatic weather station. The snow used in the experiments came from the natural snowfall on 01/19/2016-01/22/2016. After each experiment, the snowdrift geometry was measured by surveying approximately 300 points around the model. The results reveal that the patterns of snow distribution show a close relationship with the surrounding wind field of buildings.