Time-dependent fracture of ice

Understanding ice fracture under load will allow for better estimations of the expected loads and pressures experienced during an ice–structure interaction. Many models of ice fracture treat ice as an elastic–plastic material and often ignore the time-dependent aspects of its fracture. It is well known that the strength of ice is related to the applied loading rate and that ice can fracture under a given load if given enough time. This behaviour of ice fracture is related to its viscoelastic properties. The paper presents an integrated analysis of time dependent fracture of ice, covering theoretical aspects and an experimental investigation. •Discussed the formation and size of the process zone surrounding the crack tip.•Formulated a time-dependent fracture model with many loading configurations.•Conducted an experimental program of ice specimens under 4-point bending.•Model results of time-to-failure and strength fit well to our experiments and others.