Impact/Indentation Strength of Iceberg and Artificial Snow Ice

The paper presents an experimental study on the indentation and the impact strengths of iceberg and artificial snow ice. Indentation and uniaxial tests were carried out under various strain rates and confining conditions. Uniaxial compression tests were carried out on cylindrical specimens. Indentation tests were carried out on confined/unconfined rectangular ice blocks through cylindrical/flat-circular indenters. For iceberg ice, the average uniaxial strength varied between 6.6 to 7.5 MPa and the indentation strength between 17.0 to 34.0 MPa, under various strain rates. Impact was achieved by dropping a steel cylindrical indenter, weighing 60.0 kg, onto the level surface of confined/unconfined ice blocks; the velocity of impact was 2.0 m/s. The maximum (average of seven values) impact strength of iceberg ice obtained was 17.35 MPa, while that of artificial snow ice was 20.54 MPa.