Modeling calving process of glacier with dilated polyhedral discrete element method

Lu Liu; Ji Li; Qizhen Sun; Chunhua Li; Sue Cook; Shunying Ji

doi:10.1007/s13131-021-1819-x

Volume 40 Issue 7

Jul. 2021

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Lu Liu, Ji Li, Qizhen Sun, Chunhua Li, Sue Cook, Shunying Ji. Modeling calving process of glacier with dilated polyhedral discrete element method[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2021, 40(7): 159-169. doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1819-x

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Lu Liu, Ji Li, Qizhen Sun, Chunhua Li, Sue Cook, Shunying Ji. Modeling calving process of glacier with dilated polyhedral discrete element method[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2021, 40(7): 159-169. doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1819-x

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Modeling calving process of glacier with dilated polyhedral discrete element method

doi: 10.1007/s13131-021-1819-x

1.
State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2.
National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, Beijing 100081, China
3.
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart 7001, Australia

Funds: The National Key R&D Program of China under contract Nos 2018YFA0605902, 2016YFC1402705, 2016YFC1402706 and 2016YFC1401505; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41576179 and 51639004; the fund of Australian Research Council’s Special Research Initiative for Antarctic Gateway Partnership under contract No. SR140300001; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under contract No. 2020M670746.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: jisy@dlut.edu.cn
Received Date: 2020-12-19
Accepted Date: 2021-01-28

Available Online: 2021-06-08

Publish Date: 2021-07-25

Abstract

Abstract

Mass loss caused by glacier calving is one of the direct contributors to global sea level rise. Reliable calving laws are required for accurate modelling of ice sheet mass balance. Both continuous and discontinuous methods have been used for glacial calving simulations. In this study, the discrete element method (DEM) based on dilated polyhedral elements is introduced to simulate the calving process of a tidewater glacier. Dilated polyhedrons can be obtained from the Minkowski sum of a sphere and a core polyhedron. These elements can be utilized to generate a continuum ice material, where the interaction force between adjacent elements is modeled by constructing bonds at the joints of the common faces. A hybrid fracture model considering fracture energy is introduced. The viscous creep behavior of glaciers on long-term scales is not considered. By applying buoyancy and gravity to the modelled glacier, DEM results show that the calving process is caused by cracks which are initialized at the top of the glacier and spread to the bottom. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using the dilated polyhedral DEM method in glacier simulations, additionally allowing the fragment size of the breaking fragments to be counted. The relationship between crack propagation and internal stress in the glacier is analyzed during calving process. Through the analysis of the Mises stress and the normal stress between the elements, it is found that geometric changes caused by the glacier calving lead to the redistribution of the stress. The tensile stress between the elements is the main influencing factor of glacier ice failure. In addition, the element shape, glacier base friction and buoyancy are studied, the results show that the glacier model based on the dilated polyhedral DEM is sensitive to the above conditions.
- glacier calving,
- discrete element method,
- dilated polyhedral element,
- bond and fracture model

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References(38)

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