Measurement of Settlement Forces on Horizontal Beams Buried in Snow Cover

Abstract

Settlement force of a snow cover acting on horizontal beams O.8 m high on the ground has been measured using electric force gauges since winter 1974/75, to understand mechanisms of settlement force generation. Shapes of cross-sections of the beams were rectangular, square, equilateral triangle and triangular with a 37_ vertical angle. From the measurements, it was found that the magnitude of the settlement force acting on a beam did not depend upon the shape of cross-section when snow depth was smaller than 1.3 m, but in deeper snow it was smaller on the triangular than on the rectangular beam. When the surface of the snow cover turned into a crust, the settlement force increased from about 0.3 kN m-1 to 1.1 kN m-1. Physical properties of snow cover are important for quantitative estimation of the settlement force on a beam.