International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings - Montana State University Library

Item: INSIGHTS INTO THE INFLUENCE OF SNOW MICROSTRUCTURE ON THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF WEAK LAYERS

• • Title: INSIGHTS INTO THE INFLUENCE OF SNOW MICROSTRUCTURE ON THE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF WEAK LAYERS

    Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2024, Tromsø, Norway

    Authors:

    • Jakob Schöttner  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]
    • Melin Walet  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]
    • Philipp Rosendahl  [ Institute for Structural Mechanics and Design, TU Darmstadt, Franziska-Braun-Str. 3, D - 64287 Darmstad ]
    • Philipp Weißgraeber  [ Chair of Lightweight Design, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 2, D - 18059 Rostock ]
    • Valentin Adam  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]  [ Institute for Structural Mechanics and Design, TU Darmstadt, Franziska-Braun-Str. 3, D - 64287 Darmstad ]
    • Florian Rheinschmidt  [ Institute for Structural Mechanics and Design, TU Darmstadt, Franziska-Braun-Str. 3, D - 64287 Darmstad ]
    • Benjamin Walter  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]
    • Jürg Schweizer  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]
    • Alec van Herwijnen  [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, CH - 7260 Davos Dorf ]

    Date: 2024-09-23

    Abstract: Natural weak layers exhibit a variety of different microstructures and densities, and thus show different mechanical behavior. Up to now, mechanical properties of snow have been mainly evaluated based on bulk proxies such as snow density, not accounting for relevant microstructural characteristics. To establish a link between the microstructure of weak layers and their mechanical properties, we tested weak layers of three different categories (faceted crystals and depth hoar, decomposed particles and rounded grains, and buried surface hoar) in displacement-controlled laboratory experiments using a uniaxial testing machine and recorded their microstructure using micro-computed tomography (µCT) imaging. The compressive strength of 295 tested samples covered three orders of magnitude (0.5 kPa to 1 MPa) for weak layer densities ranging from 65 kg/m^3 to 470 kg/m^3. As expected, our results show a strong correlation between weak layer density and strength. At the same time, we observe distinct scaling of different types of weak layers with density, highlighting the importance of snow microstructure for mechanical considerations. These results will help us to establish a link between density, microstructural properties and strength of weak snow layers, which is needed for the next generation of snow cover and avalanche release models.

    Object ID: ISSW2024_O3.2.pdf

    Language of Article: English

    Presenter(s): Jakob Schöttner

    Keywords: snow slab avalanches, snow mechanics, weak snow layers, strength, microstructure

    Page Number(s): 409 - 413

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