Tomography-based determination of permeability and Dupuit–Forchheimer coefficient of characteristic snow samples

Abstract A tomography-based methodology for the mass transport characterization of snow is presented. Five samples, characteristic for a wide range of seasonal snow, are considered. Their three-dimensional (3-D) geometrical representations are obtained by micro-computed tomography and used in direct pore-level simulations to numerically solve the governing mass and momentum conservation equations, allowing for the determination of their effective permeability and Dupuit–Forchheimer coefficient. The extension to the Dupuit–coefficient is useful near the snow surface, where Reynolds numbers higher than unity can appear. Simplified semi-empirical models of porous media are also examined. The methodology presented allows for the determination of snow’s effective mass transport properties, which are strongly dependent on the snow microstructure and morphology. These effective properties can, in turn, readily be used in snowpack volume-averaged (continuum) models such as strongly layered samples with macroscopically anisotropic properties.

[1]  C. Y. Chen,et al.  Filtration of Aerosols By Fibrous Media , 1955 .

[2]  A. Steinfeld,et al.  Tomography based determination of permeability, Dupuit–Forchheimer coefficient, and interfacial heat transfer coefficient in reticulate porous ceramics , 2008 .

[3]  I. F. Macdonald,et al.  Flow through Porous Media-the Ergun Equation Revisited , 1979 .

[4]  T. Scambos,et al.  Extreme firn metamorphism: impact of decades of vapor transport on near-surface firn at a low-accumulation glazed site on the East Antarctic plateau , 2004, Annals of Glaciology.

[5]  M. Schneebeli,et al.  Effect of snow structure on water flow and solute transport , 2004 .

[6]  Ice.  The international classification for seasonal snow on the ground , 1990 .

[7]  R. Sommerfeld,et al.  Permeability measurements on new and equitemperature snow , 1993 .

[8]  J. Parlange.  Porous Media: Fluid Transport and Pore Structure , 1981 .

[9]  M. Albert,et al.  Snow and firn properties and air-snow transport processes at Summit, Greenland , 2002 .

[10]  清水 弘,et al.  Air permeability of deposited snow , 1969 .

[11]  Katsuhisa Kawashima,et al.  Study on quantitative classification of seasonal snow using specific surface area and intrinsic permeability , 2009 .

[12]  Martin Schneebeli,et al.  Measuring the specific surface area of snow with X-ray tomography and gas adsorption: comparison and implications for surface smoothness , 2007 .

[13]  M. Innocentini,et al.  Permeability of ceramic foams to compressible and incompressible flow , 2004 .

[14]  Joanne T. Fredrich,et al.  Predicting macroscopic transport properties using microscopic image data , 2005 .

[15]  A. Steinfeld,et al.  Tomography-Based Heat and Mass Transfer Characterization of Reticulate Porous Ceramics for High-Temperature Processing , 2010 .

[16]  M. Hopkins,et al.  Lattice‐Boltzmann modeling of the air permeability of polar firn , 2010 .

[17]  Hiromu Shimizu,et al.  Air Permeability of Deposited Snow , 1970 .

[18]  P. Shepson,et al.  An overview of snow photochemistry: evidence, mechanisms and impacts , 2007 .

[19]  S. Mauran,et al.  Application of the Carman–Kozeny Correlation to a High‐Porosity and Anisotropic Consolidated Medium: The Compressed Expanded Natural Graphite , 2001 .

[20]  A. Steinfeld,et al.  Tomographic Characterization of a Semitransparent-Particle Packed Bed and Determination of its Thermal Radiative Properties , 2009 .

[21]  C. N. Davies.  The Separation of Airborne Dust and Particles , 1950 .

[22]  H. Conway,et al.  Air Permeability as a Textural Indicator of Snow , 1984, Journal of Glaciology.

[23]  Martin Schneebeli,et al.  Developments in the Stratigraphy of Snow , 2003 .

[24]  S. Haussener.  Tomography-based determination of effective heat and mass transport properties of complex multi-phase media , 2010 .

[25]  Martin Schneebeli,et al.  Snow replica method for three-dimensional X-ray microtomographic imaging , 2009, Journal of Glaciology.

[26]  S. Ergun.  Fluid flow through packed columns , 1952 .

[27]  Michael Lehning,et al.  On Shear-Driven Ventilation of Snow , 2008 .