COMPARATIVE RESTS ON MODEL VEE SNOW PLOUGHS

TESTS WERE MADE TO DEVELOP A VEE SNOW PLOUGH BLADE WITH A BETTER CASTING PERFORMANCE THAN THOSE IN USE. AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH WAS MADE, USING MODEL BLADES PLOUGHING DAMP SAWDUST, RATHER THAN A THEORETICAL ONE, BECAUSE THE MECHANISM OF PLOUGHING HAS NOT BEEN SUFFICIENTLY ANALYSED TO ALLOW A THEORETICAL DESIGN. HOWEVER, SOME THEORETICAL WORK WAS DONE TO ESTABLISH EFFICIENCY CRITERIA, AND TWO NEW EFFICIENCIES ARE DEFINED: (1) THE OVERALL EFFICIENCY, WHICH IS A MEASURE OF THE PERCENTAGE OF WORK DONE BY THE PLOUGH WHICH IS CONVERTED INTO USEFUL LATERAL ENERGY OF THE PLOUGHED MATERIAL, AND (2) THE CLEARING EFFICIENCY, WHICH MEASURES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BLADE IN REMOVING PLOUGHED MATERIAL FROM ITS PATH. THE TEST RESULTS SHOW THAT SOME IMPROVEMENT IN EFFICIENCY CAN BE OBTAINED BY CHANGING THE BLADE FORMS CURRENTLY USED ON COMMERCIAL SNOW PLOUGHS. THESE CHANGES CAUSE AN INCREASE IN MEAN OVERALL EFFICIENCY FROM 7.0-9.7 PER CENT. THE BEST SHAPE OF PLOUGH BLADE USES ABOUT 90 PERCENT OF THE ENERGY TO OVERCOME FRICTION AND TO BREAK UP THE PLOUGHED MATERIAL. ALTHOUGH THIS SEEMS A POOR PERFORMANCE, IT APPEARS THAT FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS ARE NOT LIKELY TO RESULT FROM CHANGES IN THE BLADE SHAPE. THE PERFORMANCE OF A SNOW PLOUGH BLADE CAN BE IMPROVED BY REDUCING THE FRICTION OF THE PLOUGHED MATERIAL ON THE BLADE, BUT THIS ASPECT WAS NOT CONSIDERED, AS EFFORT WAS CONCENTRATED ON OBTAINING IMPROVEMENTS IN BLADE GEOMETRY. SOME CHANGES IN BLADE SHAPE WERE MADE TO REDUCE OVERSPILL AND TO ENABLE THE BLADE TO OPERATE IN DEEPER SNOW. /RRL/A/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rrl Rept Lr 180, 27 PP, 15 FIG, 2 TAB, 9 PHOT, 4 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT, LONDON (UK)

  ,    

  Road Research Laboratory /UK

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Vinnicombe, G A
• Publication Date: 1968

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blades (Machinery); Economic efficiency; Performance; Shape; Snowplows
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• Old TRIS Terms: Clearing
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219318
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Road Research Laboratory /UK
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 15 1971 12:00AM