Ice - Structure Interaction During Indentation Tests

To study dynamic ice-structure interaction during crushing failure of ice, indentation tests were conducted by pushing a vertical, flat indentor into the edges of floating ice sheets. The indentor was supported on three load cells to measure interaction forces at the interface. The displacements of the carriage and the indentor were measured separately. The indentor displacement relative to the carriage and the indentor acceleration were also measured. These measurements provided comprehensive data on the dynamic ice-structure interaction during crushing failure of an ice sheet. Three basic modes of ice behavior were observed: creep deformation at low velocities, intermittent crushing at intermediate velocities, and continuous crushing at high velocities. Based on these measurements, a theoretical model is proposed which produces results similar to those of the experiments.