EXPERIMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS OF ARCTIC SEA ICE UNIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH WITH POROSITY

摘要

During the Chinese Arctic Expedition in the summers of 2012 and 2014, the ice cores were taken at different ice camps in the higher latitude of Chukchi Sea or Beaufort Sea. The ice cores were then shipped to a cold room on RV Xuelong for ice compressive specimens. These specimens were used for the unconfined uniaxial compression tests which were performed for a wide range of displacement speed under temperature varying from -3°C to -9°C. Meanwhile, distributions of salinity, density, air content, fabric structure and grain size in vertical profiles in an ice sheet at each ice camp were examined. Thus, correlations between the uniaxial compressive strength and the porosity in ice specimens were studied. The compressive strength showed a non-linear relationship with the porosity, which was a function of ice temperature, salinity and density. The relationship is expected to develop a quantitative description about the variations of the mechanical behaviours with ice porosity or ice temperature, salinity and density under climate changes in Arctic summers.