The effects of consolidation time on the strength and failure behavior of freshwater ice rubble

Medium-scale tests were conducted to measure and observe the strength and failure behavior of freshwater ice rubble. A custom box measuring 3.05 m × 0.94 m × 0.94 m, with Plexiglas walls was built so that failure mechanisms could be observed. Ice rubble beams of nominal thickness 50 cm were produced by placing randomly sized ice pieces into the box filled with water at its freezing temperature. After the specified consolidation time, ranging between 0.2 and 70.5 h, the ice rubble beam was deformed by pushing a platen vertically downwards though the center of the beam until failure. For consolidation times less than 4 h, the ice beam failed progressively and tended to fail by shearing on macroscopic scale. At times greater than 4 h the beam failed by bending. The change in failure behaviour has been attributed to the degree of bonding between ice blocks.