Statistical analysis of ice fracture characteristics

Abstract

This paper addresses the fracture toughness and strength characteristics of ice taken from Notoro Lagoon in the Okhotsk Sea close to Hokkaido. Experimental values of tensile and bending strengths, and fracture toughness of sea ice conformed to Weibull statistical distribution. The proposed model predicts variation in fracture toughness as a function of the statistical distribution of ice grain sizes, effective surface energy, and elastic constants of ice. A very good agreement between experimental cumulative probability of fracture toughness and predicted distribution of fracture toughness of sea ice has been found. Computing the Weibull stress of sea ice, the dependence of fracture probability on stress intensity factor has been established. This result is in very good agreement with the presented method for the prediction of fracture toughness of sea ice.