Modeling and design of flexible snow supporting structures

The present study deals with snowpack motions and its interaction with a snow flexible supportingstructure. The final aim of this research is to evaluate forces induced into a snow net system by its interactionwith a snowpack. This calculation will allow obtaining a better engineering design of these structures.A 2D continuous approach was developed where the snowpack is described by a FEM code in which avisco-plastic constitutive model was implemented. A Coulomb-type friction law is used in the snowpack -cable interface. In parallel, 2D discrete simulations are also performed in which the snowpack is representedby a set of rigid rectangular elements gliding between each other. In the both model, the same constitutive relationis used, and the cable is described by a set of nodes linked with their closest neighbors by linear elasticforces. As first elements of validation, some comparisons were done with experimental measurements.