Field-Scale In-Situ Compliance of Arctic First-Year Sea Ice

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental results and analysis of the creep recovery and cyclic loading crack-opening-displacement measurements recorded on level first-year sea ice at Barrow, Alaska. This was the third of a three-trip program to track the seasonal evolution of the mechanical and physical properties of first-year S2 sea ice. Seven large-scale in-situ experiments were completed covering a size range of 1:30 with the largest test having dimensions of 30 m × 30 m. The creep recovery response from the largest test specimen is examined in this paper to determine the compliance of a precracked square-plate test geometry via a nonlinear viscoelastic/viscoplastic formulation. This model is then applied to the cyclic loading, and a monotonic ramp to fracture, to quantify its ability to predict the behavior for a variety of loading paths.