Affiliation:
1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai PR China
2. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF Davos Dorf Switzerland
3. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences University of Milan Milan Italy
4. Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC Davos Dorf Switzerland
Abstract
AbstractSnow avalanche‐induced air‐blasts are capable of breaking trees, damaging buildings and causing fatalities. Predicting their destructive properties is an essential part of snow avalanche hazard mitigation. Here, we propose a depth‐averaged model that involves turbulent fluctuations to simulate the air‐blast dynamics. The turbulent energy of the air‐blast arises from that of dust‐mixed air transferred from the avalanche core, shearing work in the cloud and entrained air, and is exploited to improve the air entrainment and drag relationships. We further present a unique data set of air blast‐induced tree breakage, providing type, status, diameter and falling direction of the measured trees. Through case studies of two artificially released avalanches with measured powder heights and three natural avalanches with tree‐breakage information, we test the model and investigate the turbulence effect on air‐blast dynamics. The proposed model and tree‐breakage data set quantify the air‐blast destructiveness and can be applied for avalanche hazard assessment.
Funder
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences,Geophysics