Modeling and testing of snow penetration

Penetration by a cone into snow is commonly used to characterize snow properties. However, the effects of the diameter and half-angle of the cone on the mechanical properties of snow have not been systematically studied. In addition, no estimation of material parameters in a physically-based model has been made such that the results from penetration provide only an index of snow properties. In this paper, modeling and experimental methods are used to examine the effects of cone geometry on the maximum penetration force and associated hardness, with penetrometers ranging from 2.5 to 4 mm in diameter, 15° to 45° in cone half-angle, and testing both fine-grained and coarse-grained snows. The material point method, in conjunction with the Drucker–Prager cap plasticity model, was used to obtain the theoretical penetration force-distance relationship. Global sensitivity studies were conducted that indicate that the cohesion accounts for 86% of the penetration force, followed distantly by friction angle which accounts for 27%. A general trend, for the simulation results was established: for a given half-angle, the penetration force increases with the increase of diameter which holds for most of the test data as well; for a given diameter, the penetration force decreases with the increase of half-angle, which holds for some of the test data. In addition, for a given half-angle, the hardness decreases with the increase of diameter; for a given diameter, the hardness decreases with the increase of half-angle. To take into consideration the uncertainty of test data, a simple interval-based metric was used to compare test data with simulation results; the comparison was satisfactory. The material parameters from the simulations can thus be considered as calibrated ones for the snow studied.