Numerical Simulation of Snow Drifting Disaster on Embankment Project

Snow drifting is a typical natural disaster, and an increasing importance has been attached to its theory research and field observation for the sake of cold region engineering. Numerical simulation, as an efficient method of studying snow drifting, promises to be widely applied in this field. In this paper, the finite element method is used to simulate the wind velocity field. Selected upwind, downwind and middle part of a road as key comparison points, a quantitative analysis constructed of the influence of subgrade width, height and slope ratio on the wind velocity of embankment. The results showed that, under certain circumstances, the velocity of snow drifting demonstrated different function types of increase with the height and slope ratio of subgrade enhancing, and the influence of the height is greater than the slop ratio of subgrade, while the velocity of wind decreases with the width of subgrade increasing; the numerical values approximately agreed with the field observed results, but the numerical simulation is more sensitive to various forms of embankment. The numerical results can offer references for engineering construction when the region in which wind velocity is slower than the threshold velocity as snowpack area.