Durig winter in Niigata prefecture, the snowfall on the main streets and roads is cleared up by specially designed snowploughs. But the snow on the other roads is not always necessarily taken away. Some bridges across such roads where snow is not shovelled are likely to be damaged by the snow itself. Bridge handrails are especially subjected to such kind of damage.
The main purpose, of this study is to investigate how much load the snow-covered handrails will take up when the snow lies deep or melts. The results obtained from the field experiments caried out on the unshovelled road sections in Niigata can be summarized as follows
(1) The handrails are loaded by snow both in the vertical and in the horizontal direction while they are buried deep in the snow.
(2) When the snow melts, the handrails are twisted by the thowing force of the snow.
(3) The handrails in the snow underwent load reversals.
