The influence of closed brine pockets and permeable brine channels on the thermo-elastic properties of saline ice

Aleksey Marchenko; Ben Lishman

doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0351

The influence of closed brine pockets and permeable brine channels on the thermo-elastic properties of saline ice

Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2017 Feb 13;375(2086):20150351. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2015.0351.

Authors

Aleksey Marchenko¹, Ben Lishman^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ The University Centre in Svalbard, PO Box 156, 9171 Longyearbyen, Norway aleksey.marchenko@unis.no.
² School of Engineering, London South Bank University, Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, UK.
³ Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

Abstract

A model of the thermo-elastic behaviour of saline ice is formulated, and model solutions describing thermo-elastic waves (TEW) propagating into a half-space of the ice are investigated. The model is based on a proposal that saline ice is a matrix, which encompasses both closed brine pockets and permeable channels filled with brine. Experiments on the thermal expansion of saline ice samples, and on TEW in saline ice, have been performed in the cold laboratories of the University Centre in Svalbard and in University College London. The experimental data are compared with theoretical conclusions. The experimental data support our hypothesis that the brine in saline ice is divided between closed pockets and open, permeable channels.This article is part of the themed issue 'Microdynamics of ice'.

Keywords: permeability; saline ice; thermal expansion; thermo-elastic waves.