Changes in the snow drift pattern caused by a building extension. Investigations through scale modeling and numerical simulations

Abstract

Snowdrifts around buildings can cause serious problems when formed on undesirable places. The formation of snowdrifts is highly connected to the wind pattern around the buildings, and the wind pattern is again dependent on the building design and the position of the surrounding buildings. The snowdrift pattern around two buildings in Ny-Ålesund, a small village on the arctic island Spitsbergen is investigated. An extension of one of the buildings is planned, and the effects of the new design on the snowdrift pattern is investigated. I: I 0 scale models of the buildings, with and without the extension is placed in a valley with uniform wind direction during the winter. The change in the snowdrift pattern around the models, caused by the extension is observed. The upwind snowdrift position of the situation without the extension is compared and validated against measurements of the equivalent snowdrifts around the full-scale buildings. Numerical simulations of the snowdrifting and wind pattern around the different building configurations show, in some areas, a close similarity to the field measurements. The position of the lateral and upwind snowdrifts of both the buildings are well computed, and so is the centre snowdrift between the buildings. The scale-modelling and the numerical method can be applied to other building configurations of limited complexity to determine the optimum position and design of.buildings in clusters.