Engineers from the University of Luxembourg are working together with scientists from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Switzerland to better analyse mechanical properties of snow by taking it all the way down to its micro-structural level.
The project aims to develop a computer model that will help solve typical snow-related engineering problems, such as avalanches, vehicle traction and the load imposed on buildings under heavy snowfall.
Bernhard Peters, professor of Thermo- and Fluid-dynamics and head of the LuXDEM research team at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC), and his research team are calculating the properties and behaviour of snow masses under high and low strain rates based on the bonding, displacement and rearrangement activities of microscopic snow particles.
He has brought in the experts from one of the globally renowned experts in snow research, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF from Davos in Switzerland, in order to validate his results.
“The project combines the complementary expertise of the two involved research groups with Luxembourg being an expert in discrete element modelling and Switzerland in the tomographic investigation and experimental measurement of snow characteristics,” said Peters.
The project was officially launched on 8 December 2016 and is funded by the Fond National de la Recherche Luxembourg (FNR) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for a period of 3 years.
