Model for effective thermal conductivity of a dry snow cover composed of uniform ice spheres
Open Access
- 1 January 1993
- journal article
- research article
- Published by International Glaciological Society in Annals of Glaciology
- Vol. 18, 300-304
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s026030550001168x
Abstract
The effective thermal conductivity of a snow cover is estimated assuming an idealized collection of uniformly packed ice spheres. An effective thermal conductivity is calculated based on the thermal resistance due to ice-grain contacts or bonds, the pore space/ice acting in series and the unobstructed pore. It is shown to depend very strongly on the snow density and intergranular bonding and, to some extent, on temperature. Conductivity tends to increase as density and the ratio of the contact radius to ice-sphere radius increase. The ice network is generally determined to be the most influential in determining the effective thermal conductitivity. Calculated results fall within the range of empirically determined values.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Water Vapor Transport in Snow A 2-D Simulation of Temperature Gradient MetamorphismPublished by Springer Nature ,1987
- Further Results on Studies of Temperature-Gradient MetamorphismJournal of Glaciology, 1982
- Engineering Properties of SnowJournal of Glaciology, 1977
- Effective Thermal Conductivity of Snow at −88°, −27°, and −5°CJournal of Applied Physics, 1967
- Contact heat transfer in granular material under vacuumJournal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics, 1966