Revised Aircraft Load Curves and Vehicle Ice-Thickness Tables for Annual Ice Sheet Operations Near McMurdo, Antarctica.

• Main Author: Vaudrey,K. D.
• Other Authors: CIVIL ENGINEERING LAB (NAVY) PORT HUENEME CALIF
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1976
• Subjects: Aircraft; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Numerical Mathematics; Mechanics; *AIRCRAFT; *FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS; *STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS; *SEA ICE; *CURVE FITTING; THICKNESS; MILITARY VEHICLES; MODULUS OF ELASTICITY; ICE; FLEXURAL STRENGTH; TABLES(DATA); NAVAL EQUIPMENT; Heavy equipment; McMurdo Station; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA024051; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA024051

Updated aircraft load curves and vehicle ice-thickness tables are presented for operations on the sea-ice sheet near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. First, material property research on sea-ice is reviewed to demonstrate the current knowledge of ice-sheet bearing strength. Then the elastic finite element computer code is discussed: how it models an ice sheet and accepts material property and loading condition parameters. The load curves and ice-thickness tables give minimum ice-sheet thicknesses for specified aircraft and vehicle weights over four seasonal periods during the operating season. In addition to the tables and curves, operational field procedures are included to provide guidance for both day-to-day monitoring of the ice sheet and visual observation of ice-sheet behavior. (Author)