Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments
Measurements of the mechanical properties of snow are essential for improving our understanding and the prediction of snow failure and hence avalanche release. We performed fracture mechanical experiments in which a crack was initiated by a saw in a weak snow layer underlying cohesive snow slab laye...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a627eaec7de84bc2a42ca82ca863e062 2023-05-15T16:57:35+02:00 Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments ALEC VAN HERWIJNEN JOHAN GAUME EDWARD H. BAIR BENJAMIN REUTER KARL W. BIRKELAND JÜRG SCHWEIZER 2016-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.90 https://doaj.org/article/a627eaec7de84bc2a42ca82ca863e062 EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016000903/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2016.90 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/a627eaec7de84bc2a42ca82ca863e062 Journal of Glaciology, Vol 62, Pp 997-1007 (2016) fracture mechanics snow avalanche snow fracture snow mechanical properties Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.90 2023-03-12T01:30:59Z Measurements of the mechanical properties of snow are essential for improving our understanding and the prediction of snow failure and hence avalanche release. We performed fracture mechanical experiments in which a crack was initiated by a saw in a weak snow layer underlying cohesive snow slab layers. Using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), the displacement field of the slab was determined and used to derive the mechanical energy of the system as a function of crack length. By fitting the estimates of mechanical energy to an analytical expression, we determined the slab effective elastic modulus and weak layer specific fracture energy for 80 different snowpack combinations, including persistent and nonpersistent weak snow layers. The effective elastic modulus of the slab ranged from 0.08 to 34 MPa and increased with mean slab density following a power-law relationship. The weak layer specific fracture energy ranged from 0.08 to 2.7 J m−2 and increased with overburden. While the values obtained for the effective elastic modulus of the slab agree with previously published low-frequency laboratory measurements over the entire density range, the values of the weak layer specific fracture energy are in some cases unrealistically high as they exceeded those of ice. We attribute this discrepancy to the fact that our linear elastic approach does not account for energy dissipation due to non-linear parts of the deformation in the slab and/or weak layer, which would undoubtedly decrease the amount of strain energy available for crack propagation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Glaciology 62 236 997 1007 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
fracture mechanics snow avalanche snow fracture snow mechanical properties Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
fracture mechanics snow avalanche snow fracture snow mechanical properties Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 ALEC VAN HERWIJNEN JOHAN GAUME EDWARD H. BAIR BENJAMIN REUTER KARL W. BIRKELAND JÜRG SCHWEIZER Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
topic_facet |
fracture mechanics snow avalanche snow fracture snow mechanical properties Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
Measurements of the mechanical properties of snow are essential for improving our understanding and the prediction of snow failure and hence avalanche release. We performed fracture mechanical experiments in which a crack was initiated by a saw in a weak snow layer underlying cohesive snow slab layers. Using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), the displacement field of the slab was determined and used to derive the mechanical energy of the system as a function of crack length. By fitting the estimates of mechanical energy to an analytical expression, we determined the slab effective elastic modulus and weak layer specific fracture energy for 80 different snowpack combinations, including persistent and nonpersistent weak snow layers. The effective elastic modulus of the slab ranged from 0.08 to 34 MPa and increased with mean slab density following a power-law relationship. The weak layer specific fracture energy ranged from 0.08 to 2.7 J m−2 and increased with overburden. While the values obtained for the effective elastic modulus of the slab agree with previously published low-frequency laboratory measurements over the entire density range, the values of the weak layer specific fracture energy are in some cases unrealistically high as they exceeded those of ice. We attribute this discrepancy to the fact that our linear elastic approach does not account for energy dissipation due to non-linear parts of the deformation in the slab and/or weak layer, which would undoubtedly decrease the amount of strain energy available for crack propagation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
ALEC VAN HERWIJNEN JOHAN GAUME EDWARD H. BAIR BENJAMIN REUTER KARL W. BIRKELAND JÜRG SCHWEIZER |
author_facet |
ALEC VAN HERWIJNEN JOHAN GAUME EDWARD H. BAIR BENJAMIN REUTER KARL W. BIRKELAND JÜRG SCHWEIZER |
author_sort |
ALEC VAN HERWIJNEN |
title |
Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
title_short |
Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
title_full |
Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
title_fullStr |
Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
title_sort |
estimating the effective elastic modulus and specific fracture energy of snowpack layers from field experiments |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.90 https://doaj.org/article/a627eaec7de84bc2a42ca82ca863e062 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 62, Pp 997-1007 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143016000903/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2016.90 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/a627eaec7de84bc2a42ca82ca863e062 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.90 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
62 |
container_issue |
236 |
container_start_page |
997 |
op_container_end_page |
1007 |
_version_ |
1766049150910070784 |