Healing of snow surface-to-surface contacts by isothermal sintering

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Podolskiy, E.A., Barbero, M., Barpi, F., Chambon, Guillaume, Borri-Brunetto, M., Pallara, O., Frigo, B., Chiaia, B., Naaim, Mohamed
• Other Authors: Erosion torrentielle neige et avalanches (UR ETGR (ETNA)), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), POLITECNICO DI TORINO DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL BUILDING AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING ITA, Partenaires IRSTEA, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), European Union under REA : 298672, MAP3 ("Monitoring for the Avalanche Prevision Prediction and Protection") : 144, French National Research Agency (ANR) : ANR10 LABX56
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02600852; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-1651-2014

International audience Natural sintering in ice is a fundamental process determining mechanical properties of various ice forms. According to the literature, limited data are available about the complex subjects of snow sintering and bond formation. Here, through cold laboratory mechanical tests with a new shear apparatus we demonstrate time-dependent effects of isothermal sintering on interface strengthening at various normal pressures. Measurements showed that interfacial strength evolved rapidly, conforming to a power law (mean exponent = 0.21); higher pressure corresponded to higher initial strength and sintering rates. Our findings are consistent with observations on homogeneous snow, provide unique records essential for slope stability models and indicate the significant importance of normal load on data interpretation.