New Experimental Investigation into the Angle of Repose of Snow
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 2
Abstract
Knowledge of the angle of repose of snow is significant for estimation of the rheological behavior of snow avalanches. However, at present, no comprehensive database or empirical equation is available to quantify the angle of repose for different types of snow. In this study, an attempt has been made to fill this gap by carrying out new measurements on the angle of repose of natural sieved and unsieved snow at a field research station located in Himachal Pradesh, India. The measurements were carried out using a locally developed experimental setup for the measurement of the angle of repose of snow. Analysis of the data indicates that the angle of repose of snow is determined by the snow density, temperature, and shape of the snow grains. Further, based on the data of the experiments presented in this work, a density-based empirical relation has been proposed for the estimation of angle of repose of snow.
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Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to the Director of DGRE for his kind support and motivation in carrying out this task. Technical support of Sh. Ravi Kumar, Sh. Kirpal Singh, and Sh. Khagendra in the field experiments is duly acknowledged. The author acknowledges Sh. Pradeep Lohan, Sh. Roop Lal, and Sh. Nikka Ram for their technical support in drawings and fabrication. The author also acknowledges Dr. PK Srivastava for his useful suggestions during the development of the experimental setup.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- Ff
- frictional force required to prevent the sliding of the particle down along the slope;
- g
- gravitational acceleration;
- H
- distance between tip of the funnel and the top of the wooden disc;
- h
- height of the cone;
- N
- number of measurements;
- R
- radius of the disk;
- β
- angle of repose of snow in degrees;
- βavg
- average value of angle of repose of snow in degrees;
- βmax
- maximum value of angle of repose of snow in degrees;
- βmin
- maximum value of angle of repose of snow in degrees;
- µ
- coefficient of the internal friction between the snow particles;
- ρs
- average density of snow in kg m−3;
- σ
- standard deviation;
- ωβ
- uncertainty in the estimation of angle of repose of snow; and
- uncertainty in the measurement of density of snow.
References
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Information
Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 17, 2019
Accepted: Jan 4, 2022
Published online: Feb 24, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 24, 2022
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