Viscosity and heat transfer in fluidized snow

Abstract

Fluidized snow was produced in a cold laboratory and its viscosity and heat transfer were studied. The viscosity of the fluidized snow was measured with a modified Stormer-type viscometer. It was found that the apparent viscosity decreased with increasing air velocity and decreasing particle diameter. Two mechanisms were suggested as producing the viscosity of the fluidized snow on the basis of the plot of the viscosity against the reciprocal of the air velocity. The heat-transfer coefficient was obtained by measuring the temperature of a cooled brass sphere suspended in the fluidized snow. The heat-transfer coefficient in the fluidized snow was three or four times larger than that in an air flow containing no snow particles. The increase was attributed to the enhanced turbulence of air flow and the collision of snow particles; the contribution of the latter was estimated to be 80 to 90% of the total increase due to the fluidization of snow. These results were also confirmed in an artificial blowing snow produced in a cold horizontal wind-tunnel by measuring the heat-transfer coefficient, wind velocity, and drift density.