An attempt to evaluate real contact area on snow surface by dielectric properties

Abstract

Our attempting to clarify mechanism of snow friction in Skiing has been conducting. There are mainly two theories, that is the friction melting theory and the adhesion theory, to explain why friction on ice is so low. The difference of the theories depends whether water melted by friction as lubricant exists or not. Although the former is widely borne out, it might be difficult to explain the cause why snow is slippery in very low temperature such as in the Antarctica. The latter is same as the concept for general materials and depends on real contact area on snow surface. In this study, owing to evaluate the real contact area on snow surface, a method by dielectric properties of snow with a comb-shaped electrode has been proposed. A finite element analysis of electromagnetic field has been conducted simply as the first step to examine possibility of the method.