River Ice Breakup Strength Criteria

It has been shown that the propagation of a breakup surge in impeded rivers differs from the unimpeded case. The ice cover affects both the wave celerity and magnitude, but this effect can’t be evaluated efficiently without a thorough investigation of the water wave and intact ice cover interaction. In other words we need to know what flow and water level variations an ice cover can withstand, on a specific river reach, before rupturing. Once the ice fails it is also important to evaluate how the wave characteristics are changed. In the frame of this study a theoretical analysis of the water and ice interaction is carried out. Both 1D and 2D approaches are used. The 1D approach is based on the theory of beams on elastic foundations, and aims to formulate a simple criteria that can be incorporated to 1D hydraulic models. The 2D approach is based on the theory of plates on elastic foundation and aims to evaluate the effect of the banks resistance and constraint on the shape of the cracks and on the ice cover overall resistance. A parametric analysis is also carried out to evaluate the effect of the water wave; river and ice cover characteristics on the proposed breaking criteria. The parametric study also attempts to guide the field investigation by outlining the most important parameters for the phenomenon. The strength and limitations of the 1D approach are outlined