Snow Falling Experiments and Modeling to Simulate Phenomena of Snow Dropping from Railway Vehicle

Abstract

In order to elucidate the mechanism of snow-falling from railway vehicles in winter, a mathematical model was studied to estimate the time taken for snow to fall from a railway vehicle in a warm tunnel. In addition, to validate the model which is based on the heat balance of snow accretion, snow falling experiments were carried out in a low-temperature room. Then the onset time of snow-falling was compared between the model and the results of the experiments. The result showed that it was possible to estimate the onset time of snow-falling, by setting an appropriate influence melting height on snow accretion at the interface between the metal plate and the snow accretion in the model.