Author(s): Ernst Enkvist; Seppo Makinen
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The traditional doped and seeded model ice always presented problems because it is a two-layer material with a hard top layer and a loose columnar-grain main layer. Therefore, it was considered essential to develop an improved type of model ice to be used for testing ships and offshore structures in ice in the new facility of WARC. After lengthy pilot tests with several alternative structures of model ice, a fine-grained saline T-1 ice was selected for further development. Its cracking behavior came out to be superior to traditional model ice. It is nearly homogenous and essentially brittle with no interlocking of crystals causing remnant strength after initial breaking. The mechanical properties are improved, resulting in realistic behavior during ship-ice interaction. The production time is short, up to 70 mm thick sheets may be produced overnight, and the bending strength is controllable by tempering. The new model ice was accepted for use as a standard ice in the main basin of WARC. Several ship models, for which full scale results exist, have been retested to obtain information on the model-ship correlation.
Year: 1984