Snowdrift Control Techniques and Procedures for Polar Facilities.

• Main Author: Brier,F. W.
• Other Authors: NAVAL CIVIL ENGINEERING LAB PORT HUENEME CALIF
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1972
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Civil Engineering; (*SNOW REMOVAL; POLAR REGIONS); WIND; DRIFT; TRAFFICABILITY; STRUCTURES; DAMAGE; AVIATION SAFETY; MODEL TESTS; RUNWAYS; FIELD THEORY; SNOWDRIFTS; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0744237; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0744237

Accumulation of windblown snow causes an assortment of problems at polar facilities. In addition to curtailing personnel and vehicular movement, snowdrift accumulation may damage structures and disrupt aircraft operations. In an effort to develop techniques and procedures for alleviating snowdrift accumulation, scale-model studies on building shapes, orientations, and groupings were conducted in wind ducts, and field studies were conducted on snow collection systems. The scale-model wind duct studies of a camp showed that snowdrift accumulation can be reduced by elevating the camp on a snow platform, orienting the buildings 45-degrees to the snow-carrying wind, and placing the structures and utilities to permit easy snow removal. (Author)