Measurements of fracture toughness applying a four-point-bending technique of ice core B34 from Kohnen Station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

• Main Authors: Christmann, Julia, Müller, Ralf, Webber, Kyle G, Isaia, Daniel, Schader, Florian H, Kipfstuhl, Sepp, Freitag, Johannes, Humbert, Angelika
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2014
• Subjects: B34; Density; snow; DEPTH; ice/snow; Dronning Maud Land; Antarctica; EPICA; EPICA-Campaigns; European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica; Fracture toughness; ICEDRILL; Ice drill; Kohnen Station; Sample code/label; see comment; Antarctic; Kohnen; Antarc*; ice core; Ice Shelves; Iceberg*
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.835321; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.835321

The critical fracture toughness is a material parameter describing the resistance of a cracked body to further crack extension. It is an important parameter to simulate and predict the break-up behaviour of ice shelves from calving of single icebergs to the disintegration of entire ice shelves over a wide range of length scales. The fracture toughness values are calculated with equations that are derived from an elastic stress analysis. Additionally, an X-ray computer tomography (CT scanner) was used to identify the density as a function of depth. The critical fracture toughness of 91 Antarctic inland ice samples with densities between 840 to 870 kg/m**3 has been determined by applying a four-point-bending technique on single edge v-notched beam samples. The examined ice core was drilled 70m north of Kohnen Station, Dronnning Maud Land (75°00' S, 00°04' E, 2882 m).