Bending strength and effective modulus of atmospheric ice

Bending strength and the effective modulus of atmospheric ice accumulated in a closed loop wind tunnel at temperatures − 6 °C, − 10 °C and − 20 °C with a liquid water content of 2.5 g/m3 have been studied at different strain rates. More than 120 tests have been conducted. Ice samples, accumulated at each temperature, have been tested at the accumulation temperature. In addition, tests have been performed at temperatures of − 3 °C and − 20 °C, for the ice accumulated at − 10 °C. These tests showed a clear dependency of bending strength of atmospheric ice on test temperature at low strain rates. Strain rate effects are implied because the spread in bending strength for the different temperatures diminishes as strain rate increases. The results also reveal that, in most cases, the effective modulus of atmospheric ice increases with increasing strain rate. The bending strength of atmospheric ice accumulated at − 10 °C has been found to be greater than that of ice accumulated at − 6 °C and − 20 °C. The results show that the effective modulus of ice accumulated at − 20 °C at higher strain rates is less than that of the two other types.