Sea ice friction and Arctic sea ice dynamics

A series of double-shear experiments were undertaken in the Environmental Test Basin at the Hamburgische Shiffbau-Versuchsanstalt (HSVA) in Hamburg. The aim of these experiments was to improve understanding of transient behaviour in sea ice friction. To this end we have fitted our experimental results to a rate- and state- dependent model of friction, which allows us to incorporate non-steady-state behaviour into a relatively simple (three parameter) friction law. In a further series of experiments we investigated the nature of granular flows in sea ice: here we are studying not just two parallel frictional contacts, but an anisotropic array. We have compared the ice tank results to smaller-scale laboratory results and modelling to give insights into applicability to engineering- and basin-scale problems.