Author(s): B. Wright; R. Frederking; K. Croasdale
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The topic of pack ice driving forces has received considerable attention over the past decade in terms of its importance as a force limiting mechanism for the interaction between extreme ice features and fixed offshore structures. The magnitude of large scale pack ice pressures was initially inferred from the internal stress term in Arctic ice drift models while more recently, full scale stress measurements in multi-year floes subject to "pack ice ridging forces" have been used to estimate representative values. In this paper, the failure behaviour observed during old ice floe interactions with the Molikpaq has been combined with load measurements on the structure to estimate representative bounds for potential pack ice pressures. This suggests that pack ice failures, at least at scales to several kilometers, may not be a significant load limiting mechanism for many of the expected winter ice interactions.
Year: 1992