Experimental analysis of flexural strength and elastic modulus of the DUT-1 model ice

The DUT-1 model ice is a new kind of synthetic model ice.Its characteristics,components and make processed are introduced.From a series of tests,the bending failures under different loading rates were obtained and the anisotropy behavior of the model ice was certified.It was found that its average flexural strength is 45 kPa and its average elastic modulus is 53.24 MPa.The flexural strength and elastic modulus increased with absorbed water amount and wetted density.Both became steady after water absorption 1 hour and kept the steady over 4 hours,which is longer enough for the performing model tests of ice interactions with structures and ice behavior.The ratio of elastic modulus and flexural strength was 82% over 2 000,which indicates that the DUT-1 model ice has the capability for the physical modeling tests in the scale of 1:10~1:30 based on Bohai ice flexural strength of 450~750 kPa.