A Study of Snow Melting by Heating from the Bottom Surface

Abstract

The melting process of a snow layer has been investigated for the case where heat is supplied from the bottom side and the melted water drains continuously. The melting pattern was divided into three, considering the existence of an ice lens formed by freezing of the melted water. A one dimensional melting model with draining of water formulated, accounting for water permeation and its refreezing in the layer. The model equations were solved numerically and the calculated results for the change of each layer and the quantity of draining water were in good agreement with the experimental results. Differences in the melting patterns were found to affect the melting time and the melting efficiency due to varyiations in the quantity of heat loss from the top of the layer.