Cold Wind Tunnel Tests using Artificial Snow and CFD Analysis for Unbalanced Snow Distribution due to Wind on Roofs

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a cold wind tunnel experiment using artificial snow and a fundamental CFD analysis for investigating the applicability of erosion/deposition models in CFD to the roof snow prediction. In the results of the wind tunnel tests, the significant snow erosion was observed not only upwind resion of the ridge but also downwind of the roof for all roof pitches tested. Furthermore, in the results of CFD which represents the wind tunnel experiment, it was confirmend that the resulted snow depths correspond well with the distribution of friction velocity at the upwind side, but not at the downwind side.