文章基本信息

标题：Measured shear rates in large dry and wet snow avalanches
本地全文：下载
作者：Martin Kern ; Perry Bartelt ; Betty Sovilla 等
期刊名称：Journal of Glaciology
印刷版ISSN：0022-1430
电子版ISSN：1727-5652
出版年度：2009
卷号：55
期号：190
页码：327-338
DOI：10.3189/002214309788608714
出版社：Cambridge University Press
摘要：We present estimates of internal shear rates of real-scale avalanches that are based on velocity measurements. Optical velocity sensors installed on the instrument pylon at the Swiss Vallée de la Sionne test site are used to measure flow velocities at different flow heights of three large dry and wet snow avalanches. Possible sources of error in the correlation analysis of the time-lagged reflectivity signals measured by optical sensors are identified for real-size avalanches. These include spurious velocities due to noise and elongated peaks. An appropriate choice of the correlation length is essential for obtaining good velocity estimates. Placing restrictions on the maximum possible accelerations in the flow improves the analysis of the measured data. Coherent signals are found only in the dense flowing cores. We observe the evolution of shear rates at different depths between the front and tail of the flowing avalanche. At the front, large shear rates are found throughout the depth; at the tail, plug flows overriding highly sheared layers near the bottom of the flow are observed. The measured velocities change strongly with height above the ground and fluctuations around the measured mean velocity can be identified. We find that the dense flows are laminar, undergoing a transition from supercritical to subcritical flow behaviour from the head to the tail. Furthermore, we provide real-scale experimental evidence that the mean shear rate and the magnitude of velocity fluctuations increase with the mean discharge.