Author(s): Sakshi Devi; Sid Oksala; Waqas Ahmad; Jukka Tuhkuri
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Saline ice; Fracture toughness; DIC; J integral; Crack length
Abstract: Displacement-controlled Mode I in-situ fracture experiments were conducted on laboratory-grown columnar saline ice. Edge-cracked rectangular plates with dimensions 1.5 m × 0.75 m × 0.29 m were used. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was employed to capture full-field displacement contours and to monitor crack propagation. Values for fracture toughness and J-integral were calculated for the initiation of crack growth. The J-integral was calculated by using both an analytical expression and a numerical method. The numerical (Finite Element) method employed DIC displacement fields as full-field boundary conditions with a viscoelastic material model. The analytical and experimental-numerical models gave similar results demonstrating the validity of the combined experimental–numerical approach.
Year: 2026