Abstract
In full-scale snow avalanche test sites, structures such as pylons, plates, or dams have been used to measure impact forces and pressures from avalanches. Impact pressures are of extreme importance when dealing with issues such as hazard mapping and the design of buildings exposed to avalanches. In this paper, we present the force measurements recorded for five selected avalanches that occurred at the Seehore test site in Aosta Valley (NW Italian Alps). The five avalanches were small to medium-sized and cover a wide range in terms of snow characteristics and flow dynamics. Our aim was to analyze the force and pressure measurements with respect to the avalanche characteristics. We measured pressures in the range of 2 to 30 kPa. Though without exhaustive measurements of the avalanche flows, we found indications of different flow regimes. For example, we could appreciate some differences in the vertical profile of the pressures recorded for wet dense avalanches and powder ones. Being aware of the fact that more complete measurements are necessary to fully describe the avalanche flows, we think that the data of the five avalanches triggered at the Seehore test site might add some useful information to the ongoing scientific discussion on avalanche flow regimes and impact pressure.
Highlights
Snow avalanche experimental test sites have existed for a long time in Europe and in other countries, both at laboratory and at full scale
Avalanche impact pressure measurements are of extreme importance in issues such as hazard mapping and the design of buildings or infrastructures exposed to avalanches
Details about the total forces are provided. These refer to the raw measurements, i.e., the data recorded by the datalogger, preliminary to any smoothing or data manipulation operations
Summary
Snow avalanche experimental test sites have existed for a long time in Europe and in other countries, both at laboratory and at full scale. An overview of the European avalanche test sites can be found in [1,2], but additional literature exists regarding each specific test site (e.g., [3,4,5]). The main goal of a full-scale test site is to measure dynamic variables within an avalanche flow from release to runout, in order to characterize the different avalanches and investigate their dynamics. In the European test sites, structures such as pylons, plates, or dams have been used to measure impact forces and pressures induced by avalanches
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