Finite Element Simulation of Frost Wedging in Ice Shelves


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Angelika.Humbert [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Break-up events in ice shelves have been studied extensively during the last years. One popular assumption links disintegration events to surface melting of the ice shelf in conjunction with growing melt-water ponds, leading to hydro-fracture. As this explanation only holds during warm seasons [1], the possibility of frost wedging as forcing mechanism for autumn and winter break-up events is considered. Frost wedging can only occur if a closed ice lid seals the water inside the crack. Hence, the present study of frost wedging in a single crack uses ice lid thicknesses to evaluate the additional pressure on the crack faces. The investigation of the resulting stress intensity factor as a measure of crack criticality follows consequently. The results show that freezing water inside a crack can result in unstable crack growth of an initially stable water filled crack.



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Eprint ID
45861
DOI 10.1002/pamm.201410058

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Plate, C. , Müller, R. , Humbert, A. and Gross, D. (2014): Finite Element Simulation of Frost Wedging in Ice Shelves , Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 14 (1), pp. 141-142 . doi: 10.1002/pamm.201410058


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