Event

The Department of Earth & Environmental Science

University of Pennsylvania

Invites you to attend a EES Seminar Series

Friday, February 9, 2024 - 3:00 PM

“The Mechanics of Melting”

Intermolecular forces cause the surfaces of ice crystals to be wetted by water, even at temperatures colder than the normal bulk melting value. The mobility of this premelted liquid is implicated in such varied problems as freeze-thaw damage to cohesive materials, frost heave in soils, sliding behavior at glacier beds, and the deformation of temperate ice. This talk explores some of the mechanical consequences of premelting and practical strategies to account for its role in large-scale cryospheric behavior.

Dr. Alan W. Rempel

Professor

Department of Earth Sciences

University of Oregon 

I am a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oregon. I was trained in Applied Mathematics at Cambridge, following undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Engineering Physics and Geophysics from the University of British Columbia. My main academic interests center on mechanics problems, especially those involving phase changes and sliding, which sometimes combine as in the study of glacial transport.