TAKING INTO ACCOUNT WET AVALANCHE LOAD FOR THE DESIGN OF TOWER-LIKE STRUCTURES

ABSTRACT: Wet snow avalanches interact with infrastructures around the world but their significance on the structure design is frequently neglected due to the low velocity, which characterize the flow and thus the expected low impact pressures. Recent pressure measurements performed at the Swiss Vallée de la Sionne full-scale test site show that wet avalanche pressures, measured on a 20 m high tower, are considerably higher than those predicted by conventional avalanche engineering guidelines, thus poten-tially becoming relevant for the design of tower-like structures. In order to understand under which cir-cumstances wet avalanches can become more relevant than their dry counter part and in order to establish simple rules to evaluate the pressure the avalanche exerts on a tower-like object, we analyse pressure and velocity data collected at the Vallée the la Sionne on obstacles of different shape and di-mension