The tensile strength of cracked ice

Abstract

Experiments have established that the tensile strength of pre-cracked, polycrystalline ice, I_h, when strained at 10⁻³ s⁻¹ at -10°C, is controlled by crack propagation, provided that the cracks exceed a critical size and are sharp. When the cracks are short, or when they are long but blunted through creep deformation at the crack tip, the strength is controlled by the nucleation of new cracks.