Mechanism of Phase-Locked Ice Crushing against Offshore Structures

Abstract

This paper addresses a detailed analysis of the ice–structure interaction process of the phase-locked ice crushing (PLC) against offshore structures. Directly measured ice load, structure response data, and in situ observation from the field measurements on the Molikpaq lighthouse and jacket platform were used in the study. This paper summarizes a new ductile damage-collapse (DDC) failure mechanism for the PLC process. The DDC mechanism shows that the ice failure is a discrete ductile crushing process rather than a ductile–brittle transition process. The analysis identifies that the ice has a failure length in PLC and this failure length plays an important role in understanding the interaction. It reveals that PLC can occur on most vertical-sided offshore structures when the velocity of the ice sheet falls within the range of the failure length divided by the natural period of the structure. This paper proposes that this relationship between ice failure length and the natural period of the structure can be used as one of the PLC occurrence conditions. The DDC failure mechanism provides a basis for another technical route to solve the PLC problem.