Triaxial Testing of First-year Sea Ice

Book excerpt: This report presents the first series of conventional triaxial tests carried out on columnar first year sea ice samples obtained from the field and tested under controlled laboratory conditions using a large-capacity test machine. A total of 110 horizontal ice samples from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, were tested on a closed-loop electro-hydraulic test machine at -10 C in unconfined and confined constant-strain-rate compression. The confined tests were conducted in a conventional triaxial cell that maintained a constant ratio between the radial and axial stress to simulate in situ loading conditions. The load ratios used were 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75. The strain rate of each test was constant at 0.01, 0.001, or 0.00001/s. Data are presented on the strength, failure strain and initial tangent modulus of the first year sea ice under these loading conditions. The effects of confining pressure, strain rate and ice structure on the mechanical properties of the ice are examined.