Abstract

This paper describes implementation of a snow cannon for testing different coatings for adhesion of snow in railway applications. A spray of snow is targeted to a test plate and the accumulated mass of snow is measured. The test plate can be coated with e.g. an ice-phobic coating to test the effect of coating on adhesion of snow. Exploitation of a snow cannon for this purpose is straightforward, but certain parameters need to be measured and starts and stops of the cannon need to be precisely controlled to produce repeatable measurements. The snow cannon needs water and air supply in order to operate. These need to be measured and the flow of water and air in the cannon need to be adjusted carefully to be able to produce consistent spray of snow. The snow cannon was assembled in a cold laboratory, whose temperature could be precisely adjusted. The temperature and the humidity of the laboratory were measured. The paper describes the preliminary results of the snow cannon implemented for the described purpose.