In this paper, the author describes the wind tunnel experiment of artificial snowstorm in which model snow IS used as one of the means of predicting the patterns of snowdrifts and the quantity of piled up snow around the buildings of the observation base in Antarctica and investigates the reproductivity of this method of experiment. He makes further investigations on the fundamental properties of snowdrifts such as the effective height of elevated buildings, its adequacy and so forth by this method of experiment. In addition, he reports on an example of application of the recent experiment for prediction of snowdrifts around the projected plan of the buildings of the observation base in Antarctica.
Snowdrift, Elevated Buildings, Antarctica, Wind-tunnel test of snowstorm, Prediction, Model snow, Reproductivity 30 years have elapsed since the Antarctic observation base of Japan was first established Facilities and buildings in the base have been increasing year after year. As the method of construction for the buildings in the base, the prefabrication system with wooden panels has been adopted in their design In planning the facilities and buildings in Antarctica, formation of snowdrifts around the buildings has been an Important problem As the countermeasure for snowdrifts around the buildings in the Japanese Antarctic base, elevated buildings have been adopted (photo 1). Also an investigation was made on the method to predict the patterns of snowdrifts based upon the result of experiment (Mitsuhashi, 1983). In this paper, the author describes the wind tunnel experiment of artificial snowstorm in which model snow is used as one of the means of predicting the patterns of snowdrifts that are formed around the buildings and the quantity of piled up snow and investigates the effectiveness of this method of experiment.
