SURFACE HARDENING OF COMPACTED SNOW BY CONTROLLED SOLAR RADIATION ABSORPTION.

Abstract

The snow surfaces of compacted-snow roads and runways often do not have adequate surface hardness and wearing ability for repeated traffic. Laboratory tests were conducted at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory to study the increase in surface hardness and wearing ability of compacted snow by melting and refreezing the surface snow through controlled absorption of solar radiation by black plastic on the snow surface. In 6- to 8-hour test exposures, the greatest increase in shear strength in the top 6 inches of the snow, the measure of surface hardness for these tests, occurred at +5F after 6-1/2 hours of exposure to 1.10 Langleys/min, equal to 1.1 gm cal/sq cm/min or 243.3 Btu sq ft/hr. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1965
Accession Number
AD0684406

Entities

People

  • Nancy S. Stehle

Organizations

  • Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Civil Engineering
  • Engineering
  • Hardening
  • Hardness
  • Laboratory Tests
  • Radiation
  • Radiation Absorption
  • Roads
  • Shear Strength
  • Snow Roads
  • Solar Radiation

Readers

  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Polar and Arctic Studies