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Simulations of anisotropy and fabric development in polar ices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

O. Castelnau
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géopkysique de Environnement, CNRS, 38402 Saint-Martin-d’ Héres Cedex, France
P. Duval
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géopkysique de Environnement, CNRS, 38402 Saint-Martin-d’ Héres Cedex, France
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Abstract

The preferred orientation of ice crystals in polar ice sheets developsas a result of intracrystalline slip. Polycrystalline plasticity theory has been successfully used to simulate development of fabrics in rocks. In this study, we present a simpletheory for plastic deformation and fabric evolution. Each crystal within the aggregateis assumed to deform only by basal glide, and recrystallization processes are not directly taken into account. We have adopted the uniform stress bound, that is, stress is supposed to be homogeneous in the polycrystal. Simulated fabrics in uniaxial compression and tension are similar to those observed in ice sheets. In simple shear,simulations show that c axes rotate toward the direction of the maximal compression,in contradiction to the intuitive conclusion that stable orientations correspond to the easy glide position. But, these results are in agreement with predictions of Taylor theory and self-consistent approaches. We suggest that effects of vertical compression and/or rotation recrystallization are of great importance for fabric evolution in polarice sheets. The proposed model can reproduce viscosities of anisotropic ice samples tested in compression or tension but it is not able to reproduce the low viscosity of ices with a single-maximum fabric when tested in simple shear

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Glaciological Society 1994
Figure 0

Fig.1 Orientation of ice Crystals defined in the crystallographic axes system (Oλμν) relative to the fixed external axes (Oxyz). (Ov) corresponds to the c axis.(Oμ)is in the plane (Oxy).

Figure 1

Fig.2 Simulated c-axes fabric diagrams for an initially isotropic ice sample deformed: (a) to 45% equivalent strain in uniaxial compression; (b) to 30% in uniaxial tension; ( c) to 50% in pure shear and (d) to 40% in simple shear; arrows denote the sense of deformations; calculations were done with the exponent of the flow law n = 1.5; 200 grains.

Figure 2

Fig.3 Evolution of the normalized equivalent strain rate with the equivalent strain obtained by simulation in: (a)uniaxial compression; (b) uniaxial extension; ( c) pure shear; (d) simple shear. ∈eq = 0 corresponds to a randomly oriented aggregate. n = 1.5.

Figure 3

Table 1 Experimental data (from Pimienta and others, 1987) and simulated values of the ratios B/B0, where B is the flow-law coefficient for Vostok (-2039 m) and Late Dome anisotropic ices and Bo is the average coefficient for isotropic ice samples (from Legac, 1980). Fabrics taken Jar simulations are given in Figure 2a and Figure 2b; the external axes are represented in Figure 2; n =3