Spraying pykrete: The spraying of water and wood fibers to reinforce ice

The goal of this research was to develop a construction method for the application of ice composites for architectural structures. Reinforced ice can be three times stronger than normal ice and is much tougher. To reach this goal, literature research has been carried out and an overview of the material properties of ice and reinforced ice has been prepared. An overview of all existing construction methods involving ice structures is
provided in the paper. For the application of these methods to the new material knowledge of the different methods were combined with the authors’ experience with shotcrete and pykrete. We combined the method of
spraying thin layers of snow and water on an inflatable (developed by T. Kokawa) with the use of fiberreinforced ice (as researched by N.K. Vasiliev). The process of casting of fiber-reinforced ice has been available for a long time. Spraying of fiber-reinforced ice is the new element added, which is the subject of this research.