The Compressive Strength of Ice Cubes of Different Sizes

Cubes of side length from 10 to 150 mm were prepared from freshwater granular ice of about 1 mm grain size and then compressed uniaxially to failure at −10° C. In addition to size, the variables were strain rate (10⁻⁵s⁻¹ and 10⁻²s⁻¹) and boundary conditions (ground brass plates, ground and polished brass plates, and brass brushes). The results showed that over the range investigated, size is not an important factor when considering the ductile compressive strength of ice. It also appears that size is not a factor when considering the brittle compressive failure strength under more ideal loading conditions. However, under less ideal conditions where perturbations on the loading surface may be significant, the brittle compressive strength decreases as the size of cube increases. In this case, the effect is attributed to nonsimultaneous failure.