Uniaxial constant compressive stress creep tests on sea ice

First-year columnar-grained sea ice from Resolute Passage (74 degrees 42'N, 94 degrees 50' W), off Barrow Strait in the Canadian High Arctic, was tested under constant uniaxial compressive stress applied normal to the length of the columns. Creep tests were performed at 263 K, 253 K, and 243 K in the stress range of 0.7 to 2.5 MPa, using prismatic samples with dimensions of 50 mm x 100 mm x 250 mm. Because three-dimensional creep data are extremely useful for developing constitutive equations, axial strain was measured in conjunction with the measurements of two lateral strains and acoustic emissions. The deformations were measured using displacement gages mounted on the samples. A description of the experimental procedures and the observations are presented here. One-to-one correspondence has been obtained between the present results on the dependence of minimum creep rate on stress and previous data on the dependence of uniaxial compressive strength on strain rate under constant strain rate. The strain-rate sensitivity of compressive strength can, therefore, be obtained from creep tests which can be performed by using simple dead-load test systems.