Breadcrumb
Waves in ice sheets and elastic plates
Supervisor: Richard Porter
Theme: Fluid Dynamics
When the sea freezes over in polar regions during the winter months, a 1-2m layer of sea ice is formed containing a series of irregularities including cracks, ridges, open leads, etc. Due to the large aspect ratio of the ice sheets that are formed, flexural waves are able to propagate within the ice, which can be modelled as a thin elastic sheet. The way in which the waves behave and interact with irregularities is of interest as a remote sensing device to monitor ice-thickness, for example, as well as assisting the understanding of ice break-up. This area of work has much in common with understanding how waves interact with irregularities on elastic plates that occur in airframe structures and turbomachinery, and there is scope to consider a variety of problems in any one of these areas.