Determination of snow stresses under vehicle loads

This paper presents results of two experiments on snow stress measurements under vehicles running over snow pack. In the experiments, a 5.6 T 4 × 4 military truck and a grooming machine were used. The military truck was driven over a 30-cm shallow snow pack in which a stress state transducer (SST) was installed. The grooming machine was driven over a 170-cm deep snow pack, in which four pressure sensors were installed at four different depths: 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm. Stress state in snow under the military truck was determined for rolling and for driving (pulling tests at high slip) modes and also for multiple passes. Stresses under the grooming machine were measured during low-speed rolling mode and multiple passes.