Measurement of Microstructure of Snow from Surface Sections

Abstract

A new approach to modelling the microstructure of snow is presented. The features involved in this formulation include skeletonising of the granular material and the modelling of the necks as a system of truncated cones. The skeletonising involves the process of representing the granular structure by a series of lines describing the grains and the necks and bonds. The value associated with any point on the skeleton is determined by the closest distance from the point to a grain boundary or neck boundary, whichever is smaller. This approach allows for easy visualisation of the material and efficient data storage. The use truncated cone model for the necked regions represents a more accurate physical description of the necks and should provide for a better relationship between microstructure and material properties. Preliminary results of one case study are presented