Wind Tunnel Tests of Wind-Induced Snow Distribution for Cubes with Holes

Abstract

The nonuniform distribution of snow around structures with holes is extremely unfavorable for structural safety, and the mechanism of wind-snow interaction between adjacent structures with holes needs to be explored. Therefore, a wind tunnel simulation was performed, in which quartz particles with an average particle size of 0.14 mm as snow particles were used, and cubes with dimensions of 100 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm each containing a hole with the size of 20 mm × 20 mm were employed as structures. Firstly, the quality of a small low-speed wind tunnel flow field was tested, and then the effects of hole orientation (hole located on the windward side, leeward side, and other vertical sides) and absence of holes on the surface of a single cube were studied. Furthermore, the effects of different hole locations (respectant position, opposite position, and dislocation) and relative spacing (50 mm, 100 mm, and 150 mm) on the surfaces of two cubes and the snow distribution around them were investigated. It was concluded that the presence and location of hole had a great influence on snow distribution around cubes. Snow distribution was favorable when hole was located on the other vertical sides of the test specimen. The most unfavorable snow distribution was obtained when the holes on the two-holed sides of the cubes were respectant with a maximum snow depth coefficient of 1.4. A significant difference was observed in the snow depths of two sides of cubes when holes were dislocated. When two holes were respectant, surrounding snow depth was decreased, and the maximum snow depth on model surface area was increased with the increase of spacing. Wind tunnel tests on holed cubes provided a reference for the prediction of snow load distribution of typical structures with holes.