Model-scale ice - Part A: Experiments

•Novel experimental setups are presented for in-situ testing.•Shortcoming of thin plate theory for elastic modulus determination.•FE analysis to determine linear elastic limit of model scale ice.•A large part of the model scale ice deformation process is not linear elastic.

This paper is presenting novel model-scale ice property measurements for grain size, elastic strain-modulus, compressive and tensile specimen tests. The testing and analyzing procedure is targeted to define the basic material behavior accurately to understand the material behavior for the future development of a numerical material model. Additionally, the model-scale ice thickness and the bending strength (following ITTC) are determined to classify the ice properties. The experiments consist of systematic in-situ tests to identify the model-scale ice properties in a format suitable for numerical simulations. The elastic strain-modulus is determined on the intact level ice sheet based on the load displacement relationship of the infinite plate deflection. All specimens are cut with a template to minimize dimensional variations. The specimens are loaded with a linear drive at constant speed while displacement and force are recorded. The resulting load-displacement curves indicate good repeatability. The experiments are conducted over a time of 4 h-5 h in the keeping phase, where the cooling system is adjusted to maintain the mechanical ice properties, and the obtained results do not show a dependency on the time of testing. A linear-elastic finite element model is used to reproduce the plate bending measurements for the elastic strain-modulus determination. Therewith, it is found that the actual elastic strain-modulus is 27% larger than in plain stress theory due to stresses in thickness direction. Additionally, the approximate yield strength of the model-scale ice is investigated and is found to be significantly lower than the determined maximum stresses in compression, tension and bending. Consequently, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanics of model-scale ice, and a procedure is shown how the mechanical parameters can be determined by systematic experiments and analyses.