The authors have been conducting the experimental study for test conditions on fracture toughness of several types of fresh-water ice. In this report, the effects of loading rate, test temperature and specimen dimension on the fracture toughness value of polycrystalline ice such as columnar-grained ice and coarse grained ice are examined. The test conditions were covering the range of loading rate K{sub}I = 0.8 ~1.0 × 10{sup}4 kPam{sup}(1/2)/s, test temperature T = -5 ~-50°C and specimen width b = 25 ~200 mm. Furthermore, the characteristics of fracture morphology under the mentioned test conditions are indicated. In high loading rate range, the effects of loading rate and test temperature on the fracture toughness are virtually negligible. In low loading rate range, those effects are clearly observed and a transition region is confirmed. A considerable effects of the specimen width on the fracture toughness are observed. The characteristics of the macroscopic fracture surface are clearly affected by the loading rate, test temperature and specimen dimension.
展开▼