Understanding the deformation and strength of ice rubble is key to estimating ice ridge loads on ships, offshore structures and subsea infrastructure. Medium-scale punch tests were conducted at C-CORE's Cold Room facility to measure and observe the strength and failure behavior of freshwater ice rubble. A custom-built punch box measuring 3.05 m in length and 0.94 m in width and height was used to perform the tests. The box walls were made from Plexiglas so that failure mechanisms could be observed. Ice rubble beams of nominal thickness 50 cm were produced by placing randomly sized ice pieces into the punch box, filled with water at its freezing temperature. Beams were left for a period of 4 h to consolidate under vertical confining pressures ranging from 0 kPa to 40 kPa. The ice rubble beam was deformed by pushing a platen vertically downwards though the center of the beam until failure. Results showed that the failure behavior of the ice rubble beam was controlled by the degree of freeze-bonding/sintering between the blocks, which significantly increases with applied confinement.

了解碎冰的变形和强度是估算船舶、海上结构和海底基础设施的冰脊载荷的关键。在 C-CORE 的冷藏室设施中进行了中等规模的冲床测试，以测量和观察淡水冰块的强度和破坏行为。使用长度为 3.05 m、宽度和高度为 0.94 m 的定制打孔盒进行测试。箱壁由有机玻璃制成，因此可以观察到故障机制。通过将随机大小的冰块放入冲孔盒中，在其冰点温度下装满水，从而生产出标称厚度为 50 厘米的碎冰梁。梁在 0 kPa 至 40 kPa 的垂直围压下放置 4 小时以固结。冰碎石梁通过垂直向下推压板穿过梁的中心而变形，直到失效。结果表明，冰碎石梁的破坏行为受块之间的冷冻粘合/烧结程度控制，随着施加的约束而显着增加。