Model study of wave propagation in a continuous ice sheet

• Main Author: Grande, Ottar Helge
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1983
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/1268/; https://research.library.mun.ca/1268/1/Grande_HelgeOttar.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/1268/3/Grande_HelgeOttar.pdf

The propagating and amplitude attentuating features of gravity waves in ice covered water has, during the last decase, been given a fairly extensive theoretical treatment. Usually the wave characteristics have been estimated by modelling the ice cover as a continuous linear elastic or linear visco elastic plate of uniform thickness on an elastic foundation. -- In order to determine the validity of the theoretically derived dispersion relationships for the propagation and attenuation of gravity waves entering an ice field a laboratory study was conducted. Continuous semi-infinite artificial ice sheets based on polypropylene pellet and wax combinations were used and the wavelengths and wave amplitudes were measured. Theoretical values for the wavelengths were obtained by solving the wave dispersion equation using Padé coefficients and compared with the experimentally obtained values. The wave amplitudes in the ice covered region were calculated from the wave energy.