No, fiber reinforcement mostly affects the tensile strength.
I’m a bit confused about this but that is plausible. I have seen some sources giving quite low strength values for ice such as 3MPa but then the same source will report double that value for pykrete. This is probably because of the temperature, purity, grain size etc dependence.
Still, 25 MPa is pretty good and implies a self-support height of 2.6km. Since concrete has 2.4 times the density of pykrete this means you can make taller pykrete structures under pure compression.
Also regarding creep rate I am still somewhat confused. Firstly, there is a claim that fibers drastically reduce creep. Secondly this diagram seems to indicate that to avoid almost all the creep in pure ice you have to cool it to just below −100 degrees Celsius.
Now this is bad news for pure ice but still cooling to −100 degrees Celsius is doable, you just have a 10x greater insulation requirement and you need to run a massive cooling plant. But what about Pykrete under load? I cannot find the data.
Well, yes, but on a per cubic kilometer basis it’s probably not that bad. Still, I wonder what can be achieved with smaller amounts of fiber and less extreme temperatures. I am particularly thinking of the initial thick layer of ice that you want to put on top of an iceberg. You don’t want that to creep.
I’m a bit confused about this but that is plausible. I have seen some sources giving quite low strength values for ice such as 3MPa but then the same source will report double that value for pykrete. This is probably because of the temperature, purity, grain size etc dependence.
Still, 25 MPa is pretty good and implies a self-support height of 2.6km. Since concrete has 2.4 times the density of pykrete this means you can make taller pykrete structures under pure compression.
Also regarding creep rate I am still somewhat confused. Firstly, there is a claim that fibers drastically reduce creep. Secondly this diagram seems to indicate that to avoid almost all the creep in pure ice you have to cool it to just below −100 degrees Celsius.
https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/19692/would-creep-have-been-a-major-problem-for-pykrete-designs
Now this is bad news for pure ice but still cooling to −100 degrees Celsius is doable, you just have a 10x greater insulation requirement and you need to run a massive cooling plant. But what about Pykrete under load? I cannot find the data.
Cooling at −100C is a lot more expensive.
Well, yes, but on a per cubic kilometer basis it’s probably not that bad. Still, I wonder what can be achieved with smaller amounts of fiber and less extreme temperatures. I am particularly thinking of the initial thick layer of ice that you want to put on top of an iceberg. You don’t want that to creep.