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Surging glaciers II: mathematically exact two-dimensional stress tensor fields

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Abstract

The linear boundary value problem for the stress tensor field \({\mathbf {S}}\) in a glacier is considered. This problem is determined by the balance of forces and of torques inside the glacier and by vanishing stresses at the free surface. A mathematically exact two-dimensional general solution \({\mathbf {S}}\) of this problem is developed, depending on its arbitrarily prescribed deviatoric longitudinal stress component. We complement a paper ‘Surging Glaciers I’ (Halfar in Acta Mech, 2020) and detail results spelled out there. Furthermore, an alternative exact expression of \({\mathbf {S}}\) is outlined, depending on the arbitrarily prescribed longitudinal stress component.

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Acknowledgements

I thank K. Hutter for encouragement, for reading several drafts, and for many comments, which helped me to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Hamburg, Germany

    P. Halfar

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  1. P. Halfar
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Correspondence to P. Halfar.

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Halfar, P. Surging glaciers II: mathematically exact two-dimensional stress tensor fields. Acta Mech 231, 843–856 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-020-02615-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-020-02615-9

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