Fracture Mechanical Analysis of Failure Processes in Antarctic Ice Shelves

  • This thesis treats the application of configurational forces for the evaluation of fracture processes in Antarctic ice shelves. FE simulations are used to analyze the influence of geometric scales, material parameters and boundary conditions on single surface cracks. A break-up event at the Wilkins Ice Shelf that coincided with a major temperature drop motivates the consideration of frost wedging as a mechanism for ice shelf disintegration. An algorithm for the evaluation of the crack propagation direction is used to analyze the horizontal growth of rifts. Using equilibrium considerations for a viscoelastic fluid, a method is introduced to compute viscous volume forces from measured velocity fields as loads for a linear elastic fracture mechanical analysis.

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Author:Carolin Plate
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:386-kluedo-42367
ISBN:978-3-942695-11-4
Series (Serial Number):Forschungsbericht / Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Lehrstuhl für Technische Mechanik (11)
Advisor:Ralf Müller
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language of publication:English
Date of Publication (online):2015/11/30
Date of first Publication:2015/11/30
Publishing Institution:Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Granting Institution:Technische Universität Kaiserslautern
Acceptance Date of the Thesis:2015/10/01
Date of the Publication (Server):2015/11/30
Tag:configurational forces; finite element method; fracture mechanics; ice shelves
Page Number:X, 149
Faculties / Organisational entities:Kaiserslautern - Fachbereich Maschinenbau und Verfahrenstechnik
DDC-Cassification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 620 Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau
Licence (German):Standard gemäß KLUEDO-Leitlinien vom 30.07.2015