MEDIUM-SCALE MODEL TESTS ON ICE SCOUR EVENT

Abstract

Ice Scour is a phenomenon that occurs when ice comes into contact with seabed. Ice Scour has been reported to have caused damage to communication cables and water intake pipelines. It will be very important to acknowledge the mechanisms. We have performed a series of small-scale (1-g) model experiments. Furthermore, we performed a series of medium-scale model experiments on ice scour events at a sandy beach in order to try to determine the effect of scale. The model ridge-keel was placed in the sea and pulled at a constant velocity toward the shore by a crane, and the bulldozing force and the motion of the model keel were measured, Furthermore, a model pipeline to which a strain gauge had been attached was buried at a depth of 15-20 cm from the predicted scour surface, and stress and strain acting on the model pipeline during a gouging event were measured. We showed our mechanical model could be applied to scour events not only on a small scale but also on a medium scale. We also discuss similarity law between medium-scale test results and small-scale test results, stress and deformation acting on the model pipeline.