The bearing capacity of saline ice sheets: centrifugal modelling

Abstract

Artificial sea ice sheets have been frozen in a centrifuge using novel techniques which yield reproducible ice growth rates and result in ice sheets of uniform thickness. The upper surface of these ice sheets has been subjected to an increasing load applied over a limited area, the maximum sustained load giving the bearing capacity at high inertial acceleration. Such centrifugal modelling techniques produce ice sheets with bearing capacities in agreement with existing field and laboratory data. In particular, the influence of indentor diameter and loading rate is examined and the centrifuge data are found to behave in the same manner as existing data with respect to both of these variables. All data are compared with a number of theoretical descriptions of bearing capacity, and these comparisons are discussed with regard to their impact on the applicability of the centrifuge modelling technique on ice penetration problems.Key words: centrifugal modelling, sea ice, bearing capacity.