The device for cleaning road surfaces from layer snow

The work proposes a device for combating layer snow on hard road surfaces. Preliminary calculations were performed using numerical modeling to determine the stress-strain state of the main units and elements of the device design, including cutting disks. The cutting elements of the device, namely disks with a diameter of 345 mm, are located at a certain angle to the surface being destroyed, as a result of which tangential and normal stresses are created, which leads to the separation of snow and ice fragments. Numerical modeling was performed for several variants of boundary conditions and loading: for a towing trolley together with the device, for a device shaft together with disks, and for disks separately. The characteristics of the materials of the device and disks for numerical modeling are presented. It was found that under actual loading and displacements, the disks, axle and power frame have a sufficient margin of safety. Based on the obtained theoretical data, materials were selected and a device was assembled for conducting semi-naturalistic experiments at a test site. During the experiments it was established that the nature of the destruction of the layer snow and the size of the fraction of separated fragments depend on the thickness of the snowpack. Cleaning of the destroyed layer snow with brush equipment is possible with its thickness up to 10 cm. Cleaning of the layer snow up to 17 cm thick can be carried out only with plow-type devices.