This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in mechanics of materials between Erland M. Schulson at the Ice Research Laboratory, Dartmouth College, and Jerome Weiss at the Laboratory for Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment, French National Center for Scientific Research, Grenoble, France. They propose to perform experimental studies on the nucleation of cracks in ice under multiaxial compression. The experiments will include investigations of the distinction between the effects of confinement and loading and the effects of microstructure. The work will contribute to our understanding of the fracture of ice and to our general understanding of fracture in other brittle materials. The project takes advantage a `model` ice developed by the French laboratory using unique techniques for controlling microstructure.
