Fracture of warm S2 columnar freshwater ice: size and rate effects

Large scale laboratory experiments on size and rate effects on the fracture of warm columnar freshwater ice have been conducted with floating edge-cracked rectangular plates loaded at the crack mouth. The largest test plate size had dimensions of 19.5m x 36m. The overall crack-parallel dimension covered a size range of 1:39, possibly the largest for ice tested under laboratory conditions. The loading rates applied led to test durations from...