ABSTRACT As global warming continues to cause the retreat of sea ice, it is necessary to investigate the effects of waves on ice floes. In this study, the force exerted by bichromatic waves on a solitary plastic ice model was measured in a wave flume. A novel arrangement of a three-layer composite plate with a Young's modulus within the range of the scaled values for ice based on field measurements was developed for the experiments. A commonly used polypropylene (PP) plate was employed for the experimental measurements using identical wave parameters. The plates were configured with edge barriers to investigate the influence of the overwash phenomenon. Numerical investigations using the DNV GL software were also conducted. The results confirmed that the mean wave force increased with increasing height of the incident wave until the occurrence of overwash. A compliant composite plate was also found to reduce the wave force. The experimental results showed that the wave force also sensitive to .