A method of calculating ice loads when ice piles up on a fixed wall

Abstract

A model for calculating ice loads on a shelf ice-resistant platform is developed which corresponds to a cyclic scenario of the interaction of ice with the wall of a platform observed in laboratory experiments. Using relations which follow from the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy written for ice which fills a ridge formed at the wall of the platform, an explicit formula is obtained for the ice load on the wall. The generalized forces characterizing the dependence of the energy dissipation accompanying ridging on the dimensions of the sail and keel of the ridge and on the shape of the wall are parametrized. It is shown that the calculated loads obtained using the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium of the sail and the keel of the ridge correspond to the lower boundary of the experimentally measured loads. The calculated loads obtained using the assumption that the keel of a ridge is of constant size yield an upper estimate of the ice loads. In order to estimate the limit loads at which collapse of the ice into the water occurs, a problem on the formation of a flexural crack in an ice floe which is thrust onto the wall is considered. The average and maximum ice loads on the wall of a platform are calculated on a real scale.