Author(s): Yuanpeng Zheng; Tao Chen; Xianglin Gu

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Keywords: Lake Ice; River Ice; Ice Mechanics and Properties

Abstract: Ice is an abundant and accessible construction raw material in cold regions. However, its application is bridled by the innate disproportionate compressive and tensile strength which often leads to brittle fracture. Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) is a composite material with light self-weight, good durability and high tensile strength. It has great potential in improving the mechanical behavior of ice structural members. In the research, finite element analysis of GFRP-rebar-reinforced ice beams is conducted and presented. A constitutive model which is widely used in concrete structure analysis is revised to characterize the mechanical behavior of ice. The strength and deformation of reinforced ice beams with different amounts of GFRP rebars are compared to the behavior of plain ice beams. Results of the numerical simulation show that the presence of GFRP macro-reinforcements provides significant strength and stiffness increase with the beam. At the same time, the once-fragile ice beam is able to sustain a larger deformation, quadruple in one case. The research indicates that GFRP rebar is a promising high-performance material in cold region construction. Accompanied by prospective experimental programs, numerical strength prediction will guide the design of the composite structural member in frozen architectures.

DOI:

Year: 2022