Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T14:59:02.059Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Configurational energy and the formation of mixed flowing/powder snow and ice avalanches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2016

Perry Bartelt ,
Othmar Buser ,
Cesar Vera Valero  and
Yves Bühler
Perry Bartelt*
Affiliation:
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos-Dorf, Switzerland
Othmar Buser
Affiliation:
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos-Dorf, Switzerland
Cesar Vera Valero
Affiliation:
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos-Dorf, Switzerland
Yves Bühler
Affiliation:
WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos-Dorf, Switzerland
*
Correspondence: Perry Bartelt <[email protected]>
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract.

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A long-standing problem in avalanche dynamics is to model the flow of a mixed flowing/powder avalanche. Here we use the thermodynamic concept of configurational energy to describe the blow-out of air from the avalanche core. Configurational energy is the mean potential energy associated with the location of snow and ice particles in the avalanche core. As such, configurational energy determines the avalanche flow density. Expansion of the particle ensemble reduces the flow density and leads to the intake of air. Compression of the particle ensemble causes the blow-out of the intaken air, now laden with ice dust. Once formed, the cloud moves independently of the flowing avalanche with the initial momentum acquired in the core. Configurational energy changes in the avalanche core are therefore intimately related to the formation of the powder suspension cloud. In this paper we use the concept of configurational energy to predict the mass of air taken into and blown out of the core. This requires calculating the dispersive pressure arising from random particle movements and configuration changes related to the expansion and collapse of the flowing particle ensemble. The ice avalanche that struck the Everest base camp on 25 April 2015 is simulated using the proposed concept.

Keywords

avalanches
Type
Paper
Information
Annals of Glaciology , Volume 57 , Issue 71 , March 2016 , pp. 179 - 188
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016

References

Ancey, C (2004) Powder snow avalanches: approximation as non-Boussinesq clouds with a Richardson number-dependent entrainment function. J. Geophys. Res., 109, F01005 (doi:10.1029/2003JF000052)Google Scholar
Bagnold, RA (1954) Experiments on a gravity-free dispersion of large solid spheres in a Newtonian fluid under shear. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 225(1160), 49–63 Google Scholar
Bartelt, P, Buser, O and Platzer, K (2006) Fluctuation-dissipation relations for granular snow avalanches. J. Glaciol., 52(179), 631–643 (doi: 10.3189/172756506781828476)Google Scholar
Bartelt, P, Bühler, O, Buser, O, Christen, M and Meier, L (2012) Modeling mass-dependent flow regime transitions to predict the stopping and depositional behaviour of snow avalanches. j. Geophys. Res., 117, F01015 (doi: 10.1029/2010JF001957)Google Scholar
Bartelt, P, Bühler, Y, Buser, O and Ginzler, C (2013) Plume formation in powder snow avalanches: measurements and modelling of snow avalanche speeds. Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop, Grenoble - Chamonix Mont-Blanc, 2013. International Snow Science Workshop Google Scholar
Bozhinskiy, AN and Losev, KS (1998) The fundamentals of avalanche science. Eidg. Inst. Schnee- Lawinenforsch. 55 Google Scholar
Bozhinskiy, AN and Sukhanov, LA (1998) Physical modelling of avalanches using an aerosol cloud of powder materials. Ann. Glaciol., 26, 242–246.Google Scholar
Buser, O and Bartelt, P (2009) Production and decay of random kinetic energy in granular snow avalanches. J. Glaciol., 55(189), 3–12 (doi: 10.3189/002214309788608859)Google Scholar
Buser, O and Bartelt, P (2011) Dispersive pressure and density variations in snow avalanches. J. Glaciol., 57(205), 857–860 (doi: 10.3189/002214311798043870)Google Scholar
Buser, O and Bartelt, P (2015) An energy-based method to calculate streamwise density variations in snow avalanches. J. Glaciol., 61(227), 563–575 (doi: 10.3189/2015JoG14J054)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, C, Louge, M and Turnbull, B (2013) Frontal dynamics of powder snow avalanches. J. Geophys. Res., 118(2), 913–924 (doi: 10.1002/jgrf.200068)Google Scholar
CBS News (2015) ‘Impossible’ to find all dead in crushed Nepal village. 5 May http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nepal-earth-quake-mudslide-buried-langtang-village-killed-foreign-trekkers/ [accessed 15 May 201 5]Google Scholar
Christen, M, Kowalski, J and Bartelt, P (2010) RAMMS: numerical simulation of dense snow avalanches in three-dimensional terrain. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 63(1-2), 1–14 (doi: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2010.04.005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, PA (2004) Turbulence: an introduction for scientists and engineers. Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Deilami, K and Hashim, M (2011) Very high resolution optical satellites for DEM generation: a review. Eur. J. Sci. Res., 49(4), 542–554 Google Scholar
Fukushima, Y and Parker, G (1990) Numerical simulation of powder snow avalanches. J. Glaciol., 36(123), 229–237 Google Scholar
Grigoryan, S, Urubayev, N and Nekrasov, I (1982) Experimental investigation of an avalanche air blast. Data Glaciol. Stud., 44, 87–93 [in Russian]Google Scholar
Jenkins, M (2015) Historic Tragedy on Everest, With 13 Sherpas Dead in Avalanche. National Geographic News http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140418-everest-ava-lanche-sherpa-killed-mountain/ [accessed 15 May 2015]Google Scholar
Luca, I, Fang, C and Flutter, K (2004) A thermodynamic model of turbulent motions in a granular material. Contin. Mech. Thermo- dyn., 16(4), 363–390 (doi: 10.1007/s00161-003-0163-z)Google Scholar
Nazarov, AN (1990) Mathematical modeling of a snow powder avalanche in the framework of the equations of two-layer shallow water, [transl. from Isvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, 84-90]Google Scholar
Platzer, K, Bartelt, P and Kern, M (2007) Measurements of dense snow avalanche basal shear to normal stress ratios (S/N). Geophys. Res. Lett, 34(7), L07501 (doi: 10.1029/2006GL028670)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pralong, A and Funk, M (2006) On the instability of ava-lanching glaciers. J. Glaciol., 52(176), 31–48 (doi: 10.3189/172756506781828980)Google Scholar
Rastello, M and Hopfinger, E (2004) Sediment-entraining suspension clouds: a model of powder-snow avalanches. J. Fluid Mech., 509, 181–206 Google Scholar
Sukhanov, G (1982) The mechanism of avalanche air blast formation as derived from field measurements. Data Glaciol Stud., 44, 94–98 [in Russian]Google Scholar
Sukhanov, G and Kholobayev, (1982) Variability of avalanche air blast in time and space. Data Glaciol Stud., 44, 98–105 [in Russian]Google Scholar
Turnbull, B and McElwaine, J (2007) A comparison of powder-snow avalanches at Vallée de la Sionne, Switzerland, with plume theories. J. Glaciol., 53(180), 30–40 (doi: 10.3189/172756507781833938)Google Scholar
Turnbull, B, McElwaine, J and Ancey, C (2007) Kulikovsky-Sveshnikova-Begin model of powder snow avalanches: development and application. J. Geophys. Res., 112, F01004 (doi: 10.1029/2 006JF000489)Google Scholar
Wilkinson, F (2015) Survivors and Dead Evacuated from Everest Base Camp. National Geographic News www.news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150426-everest-earthquake-basecamp-nepal-himalaya-climbing-sherpas/ [accessed 14 May 2015]Google Scholar