Ice block breakage within deforming ice rubble

• Main Authors: Prasanna, Malith, Polojärvi, Arttu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Discrete element method; Ice block breakage; Ice rubble; Arctic
• Online Access: https://cris.vtt.fi/en/publications/cf085dc1-c85c-47a9-bdb1-b16c7eaefce3; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171168647&partnerID=8YFLogxK; https://www.poac.com/Papers/2023/pdf/Paper6_Prasanna.pdf

This paper studies ice block breakage during shearing of ice rubble by using discrete element method simulations with a block breakage model. In the case of ice rubble, breakage is the tendency of ice blocks failing due to loads acting on them. Block breakage often plays an important role in force transmission through granular materials, yet it has not been thoroughly studied in the context of ice rubble. In this research, direct shear box experiments on ice rubble were simulated with and without the block breakage model and the simulation results were compared with experiments. Our results indicate that accounting for breakage improves the accuracy of the DEM simulations. Moreover, in our case, shear strength of the ice rubble decreased about 15% when the blocks are allowed to break in the simulations.