SOME MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ALPINE SNOW, MONTANA 1964-66.

• Main Authors: Keeler,C. M., Weeks,W. F.
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1967
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; (*SNOW; MONTANA); MOUNTAINS; HARDNESS; TENSILE PROPERTIES; DENSITY; MECHANICAL PROPERTIES; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; SCATTERING; MEASUREMENT; SITE SELECTION; STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES; BONDING; POROSITY; Bridger; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0655528; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0655528

Data on the physical properties of seasonal alpine snow have been collected from the Beartooth Mountains near Cooke City, Montana, and the Bridger Range near Bozeman, Montana. Systematic measurements of snow density, temperature, structure, ram and Canadian hardness, centrifugal tensile strength and shear strength measured with a shear box and several types of shear vanes are included. Test results were grouped according to gross snow types and whether the snow was wet or dry. Interrelations between the different test parameters were studied. Experiments were also conducted to study the sources of error in making in-situ mechanical tests on snow without utilizing a pit wall. The main factor contributing to the experimental scatter is lateral inhomogeneity in the snow cover. However, the standard deviation of a group of strength tests is shown to be directly proportional to the mean value of the group. The systematic relations between snow properties invariably become obscured when different snow 'types' are indiscriminantly grouped together.