Mechanical Properties of Freshwater Ice

Freshwater ice, a crucial material in the context of climate change, exhibits unique mechanical behavior that is influenced by temperature, pressure, grain size, fabric, and impurity content. Understanding the mechanical behavior of freshwater ice is of critical importance in Earth Sciences, as ice cores are natural archives of the Earth’s climate history, and in engineering as structures are built in cold regions. This work provides a comprehensive review of the mechanical properties of freshwater ice, with an emphasis on its strength, ductility, creep, and fracture behavior under various terrestrial conditions. A brief introduction to the different crystalline forms of ice, as well as the crystal structure and defects of ice Ih, is given. The effects of strain rate, temperature, grain size, confining pressure, impurities, and fabrics on the constant strain rate and constant load deformation behavior are explained. Additionally, methods for large-scale ice flow modeling and key results from such models are discussed. Finally, unresolved questions and directions for future research are presented.