Mechanical and Electrical Responses and Damage Evolution of Compacted Machine-Made Snow

The relationship between electrical change and load-bearing deterioration remains unclear for dense compacted snow. This study combines full-factorial uniaxial compression tests with concurrent electrical measurements to examine the effects of temperature, density, and loading rate on compacted machine-made snow. Densification increased peak strength, but the magnitude of this gain depended on temperature and loading rate. At −30 °C and 15 mm/min, increasing density from 0.50 to 0.70 g/cm3 raised peak strength from 1.072 to 2.544 MPa and reduced initial process apparent resistivity by 62.6%. Cooling also strengthened the snow but increased initial apparent resistivity. Faster loading reduced peak strain, whereas strength varied nonmonotonically. These responses can be interpreted through competition between contact strengthening, stress redistribution, and bond failure. The strain separation between stress peaks and resistivity minima is consistent with contact adjustment continuing during mechanical softening. A peak-referenced Weibull relation described local post-peak softening with a root-mean-square error of 0.041 MPa and R2 of 0.920. Adding a nonnegative resistivity rebound term did not improve the local fit. The results distinguish electrical state evolution from mechanical capacity loss and provide a basis for joint assessment of strength, deformation, and resistivity in compacted snow pavements.