Ice Engineering - Quantification of Subsurface Ice Thickening Techniques.

• Main Author: Barthelemy,J. L.
• Other Authors: CIVIL ENGINEERING LAB (NAVY) PORT HUENEME CALIF
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1974
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Civil Engineering; *Sea ice; Freezing; Sea water; Convection(Heat transfer); Heat exchangers; Differential equations; Construction; Polar regions; Freezing cells; Design; Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0781640; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0781640

Because of the extreme conditions and the lack of readily available building materials in polar regions, construction by conventional means is often unfeasible. Methods involving the localized freezing of seawater into useful structures at coastal polar locations are being developed. One technique previously developed and tested is surface flooding. An alternate method involves subsurface thickening by short-circuiting the insulating property of an existing ice sheet. Especially promising are natural-convection heat exchangers called freezing cells. These devices are simply constructed, self-powered and easily installed. Their performance and ice production capabilities are described by a series of equations, presented in generalized (dimensionless) form so as to be applicable to a system of any size. (Modified author abstract)