[1] A fundamental problem in avalanche engineering is to determine the impact pressures exerted on structures. This task is complicated because snow avalanches flow in a variety of regimes, primarily depending on snow temperature and moisture content. In this paper we address this problem by analyzing measured impact pressures, flow velocities, and flow depths of five Vallée de la Sionne avalanches. The measurements are made on a 20 m high tubular pylon instrumented with high-frequency pressure transducers and optoelectronic velocity sensors. In the observed avalanches, we find both subcritical and supercritical flow regimes. Typical Froude numbers were smaller than 6. The subcritical regime (Fr < 1) is characterized by a flow plug riding above a highly sheared basal layer. The measured pressures are large and velocity-independent in contradiction to calculation procedures. Pressure fluctuations increase with flow depth, indicating a kinematic stick-slip phenomena which is largest at the basal layer. Supercritical flow regimes (1 < Fr < 6) are characterized by a sheared flow all over the avalanche depth. In this regime the impact pressure is velocity-dependent. We derive relationships governing impact pressure as a function of the Froude number, and therefore flow regime, encompassing all the observed avalanches.Citation: Sovilla, B., M. Schaer, M. Kern, and P. Bartelt (2008), Impact pressures and flow regimes in dense snow avalanches observed at the Vallée de la Sionne test site,

We present estimates of internal shear rates of real-scale avalanches that are based on velocity measurements. Optical velocity sensors installed on the instrument pylon at the Swiss Vallée de la Sionne test site are used to measure flow velocities at different flow heights of three large dry and wet snow avalanches. Possible sources of error in the correlation analysis of the time-lagged reflectivity signals measured by optical sensors are identified for real-size avalanches. These include spurious velocities due to noise and elongated peaks. An appropriate choice of the correlation length is essential for obtaining good velocity estimates. Placing restrictions on the maximum possible accelerations in the flow improves the analysis of the measured data. Coherent signals are found only in the dense flowing cores. We observe the evolution of shear rates at different depths between the front and tail of the flowing avalanche. At the front, large shear rates are found throughout the depth; at the tail, plug flows overriding highly sheared layers near the bottom of the flow are observed. The measured velocities change strongly with height above the ground and fluctuations around the measured mean velocity can be identified. We find that the dense flows are laminar, undergoing a transition from supercritical to subcritical flow behaviour from the head to the tail. Furthermore, we provide real-scale experimental evidence that the mean shear rate and the magnitude of velocity fluctuations increase with the mean discharge.

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[1] We investigate frictional processes at the basal shear layer of snow flows. A chute is instrumented with basal force plates, velocity and flow height sensors to perform experiments with dry and wet snow. We find that a MohrCoulomb relation of the form S = c + bN accurately describes the relation between normal (N) and shear stress (S). The Coulomb friction coefficient b ranges between 0.22 and 0.55. Several wet snow avalanches exhibited significant cohesion c % 500 Pa. These quantitative measurements of stress, velocity and flow height allow us to probe the relation between basal work, internal dissipation and gravitational potential energy. We find that basal shearing is the primary frictional mechanism retarding snow flows. This mechanism shows no velocity dependence, contrary to many postulated constitutive relations for basal shearing in snow avalanches.Citation: Platzer, K., P. Bartelt, and M. Kern (2007), Measurements of dense snow avalanche basal shear to normal stress ratios (S/N), Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07501,

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ABSTRACT. We report impact pressures exerted by three wet-snow avalanches on a pylon equipped with piezoelectric load cells. These pressures were considerably higher than those predicted by conventional avalanche engineering guidelines. The time-averaged pressure linearly increased with the immersion depth of the load cells and it was about eight times larger than the hydrostatic snow pressure. At the same immersion depth, the pressures were very similar for all three avalanches and no dependency between avalanche velocity and pressure was apparent. The pressure time series were characterized by large fluctuations. For all immersion depths and for all avalanches, the standard deviations of the fluctuations were, on average, about 20% of the mean value. We compare our observations with results of slow-drag granular experiments, where similar behavior has been explained by formation and destruction of chain structures due to jamming of granular material around the pylon, and we propose the same mechanism as a possible microscale interpretation of our observations.

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