The mechanical properties of saline ice under uniaxial compression

Abstract

Understanding the mechanical properties of saline ice is important for engineering design as well as for operations in polar regions. In order to gain understanding of the basic mechanisms of deformation and fracture, laboratory-grown columnar saline ice, representative of first-year sea ice, was tested in uniaxial compression under a variety of conditions of Strain rate (10 −7 to 10 −1 s −1 ), temper-aiure (−40°, −20°, −10° and −5°C) and orientation (loading vertically or horizontally: i.e. parallel or perpendicular to the growth direction). The range of strain rate spanned the ductile-to-brittle transition for every combination of temperature and specimen orientation. The results of over 250 tests are reported. Mechanical properties, failure mode and ice structure are analyzed with respect to the testing conditons. The results show that strength is dependent upon the ice structure, orientation, strain rate and temperature. During loading in the ductile regime the structure is altered (e.g. by recrystallization), whereas in the brittle regime the majority of the structural change is through cracking. The results are compared to results from the literature on both natural sea ice and laboratory-grown saline ice. Where possible, they are interpreted in terms of micromechanica] models.