Analysis of the tensile fracture of sea ice

This dissertation presents a theoretical approach for modeling the fracture of sea ice. The fictitious crack model which uses the concept of the fracture process zone is employed to study sea ice fracture. The fictitious crack model embedded in a linear elastic material is first studied. It is then generalized to include linearly viscoelastic material behavior outside the fracture process zone as well as rate dependent fracture within the process zone. Formulations and solution procedures for both approaches are given. The model is used to analyze laboratory tests conducted on saline ice and the large-scale in-situ fracture tests on first-year sea ice. Material and fracture parameters were back-computed by matching the model results with the experimental response. The matching produced size invariant model parameters, indicating that the fictitious crack model approximates sea ice fracture to a reasonable accuracy for the time durations studied.