Research Solutions: TR-760-Designing Snow Fences That Are Efficient and Cost-effective

(2024) Research Solutions: TR-760-Designing Snow Fences That Are Efficient and Cost-effective. Transportation, Department of

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Abstract

Blowing and drifting of snow is a major concern for safety, transportation efficiency, and road maintenance in regions subject to intense snowfalls and winds during the winter season. Snow blowing across (or drifting) and accumulating on the roadway leads to reduced driver visibility and induces ice formation on roads posing serious safety concerns and leading to increasing the number of accidents. The most often-used mitigation measure has and continues to be the deployment of snow fences. Currently, IA DOT snow fence designers use default SRC values recommended by snow fence design software despite that these empirical estimates are widely different from those where they were determined. Without being able to accurately estimate the local SRC values, the design of an efficient snow fence is, in most cases, incomplete. The proposed research would perform an in-situ experimental program to measure specific values for snow drifting coefficient and quantify accumulation of snow at fences.