Item: ON THE POTENTIAL OF PARTICLE TRACKING IN SNOW AVALANCHES
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Title: ON THE POTENTIAL OF PARTICLE TRACKING IN SNOW AVALANCHES
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2023, Bend, Oregon
Authors:
- Jan-Thomas Fischer [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Michael Neuhauser [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Anselm Köhler [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Felix Oesterle [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Anna Wirbel [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Oscar Dick [ Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW), Department of Natural Hazards, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Wolfgang Fellin [ Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Robert Winkler [ Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Department of Engineering and IT, Austria ]
- Rene Neurauter [ Department of Mechatronics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Johannes Gerstmayr [ Department of Mechatronics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Jonas Kuß [ Department of Telecommunication Systems, Technical University of Berlin, Germany ]
- Falko Dressler [ Department of Telecommunication Systems, Technical University of Berlin, Germany ]
Date: 2023-10-08
Abstract: Knowledge of particle motion in snow avalanches is crucial to understand the driving processes, determining transport phenomena or to quantify the avalanche's destructiveness and mobility. To investigate the dynamics of avalanches on a particle level we concentrate on the combination of two approaches: measurement data of a newly developed inflow sensor system, the so called AvaNodes, and simulation results of the thickness integrated computational module com1DFA, recently introduced within the open avalanche framework AvaFrame. The AvaNodes travel with the avalanche flow as synthetic particles. Equipped with a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), it is possible to record particle trajectories with corresponding velocities. Com1DFA is based on a numerical particle grid method, which due to its open-source structure allows for the direct implementation of numerical particle tracking functionalities. The combination of these two fundamentally different methods directly implies the question of comparability between simulations and measurements. We approach this by comparing the measurement and simulation data on a particle level and introduce a common reference system, an avalanche thalweg following coordinate system. The coordinate transformation and resulting, natural avalanche path perspective allows to investigate and compare the spatio-temporal evolution of velocities and to define travel lengths or travel angles in a standardized manner. Furthermore, this analysis allows us to distinguish distinct avalanche flow phases and their features on a particle level. With this work we highlight the potential and current limitations when comparing synthetic particle sensor systems to numerical simulation particles with an example of an observed avalanche event at the Nordkette test site, providing a first insight of how the presented methods can be used in terms of optimization and evaluation of simulation tools on a particle level. The analysis of the AvaNode sensor data points towards future potential in investigating the influence of snow and particle properties, such as size, shape, or density, on the avalanche flow.
Object ID: ISSW2023_O2.03.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Jan-Thomas Fischer
Keywords: avalanche dynamics, avalanche simulation, sensor nodes, particle tracking, AvaFrame com1DFA, Thalweg-time, Thalweg-altitude
Page Number(s): 48 - 55
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