Recent Advances in Ice Mechanics in Canada

Abstract

Work on the mechanics of ice, which has been carried forward on a broad front in Canada, has resulted in a number of significant advances in the last 10 years. The factors influencing the growth of various types of sea ice have been quantified fundamentally and methods for examining the resulting material structure have been developed. Extensive work has been done on strength and deformation characteristics of ice. A significant effort has been the development of analytical expressions to describe the rheological behavior of ice. Elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and creep were also treated. A great deal has been done on measuring the compressive strength of various types of naturally occurring ice and subsequently these data were combined into a suitable description of a failure envelope. Work has also been done on measuring the flexural strength, shear strength, adhesion and fracture toughness. Methods for laboratory testing and in situ measurements of mechanical properties have been developed. The problem of defining ice forces on structures has been the primary motivation for research on ice. Analytical modelling, physical modelling, laboratory studies and very extensive field studies have been used. Work done in this area has included development of methods and their application to actual problems and has benefitted greatly from the integration of all four approaches. Very significant progress has been made. Ice and ice covers have been successfully used to support various offshore activities: drilling off floating ice platforms, stabilizing grounded rubble fields to protect structures and transporting large loads over ice.