The Characteristic Grain Size and the Compressive Strength of Ice Containing a Bimodal Distribution of Grain Sizes

The purpose of this communication is to show through experiment that the compressive strength of polycrystalline ice, which contains a bimodal distribution of grain sizes, can be expressed in terms of a characteristic grain size. The work was performed in response to an awareness that grain refinement strengthens both columnar [1] and granular [2] freshwater ice deformed under compression, and that ice formed naturally often contains grains of more than one size. A detailed discussion is given elsewhere [3].