Thermo-mechanical loads of confined sea ice on structures

Abstract

Records of the ice pressures on the joggle skirt of the coal quay in Spitsbergen were performed over winter seasons in 2013 and 2015. The ice thickness below the quay was above 2 m. Ice temperature over the ice thickness and water pressure at the sea bed were measured synchronously. It was discovered that sea water migrates through the ice confined inside the joggle skirt under the influence of tidal changes of the water pressure below the ice. It leads to the formation of floods on the ice surface during high tide. The ice surface becomes dry during low tide. Ice temperature and ice pressure on the joggle skirt are changed according to the semidiurnal cycle. Spectral analysis and correlation analysis are performed to analyse the loads caused by thermal expansion of the ice. A thermo-mechanical model of ice based on elastic-plastic rheology with thermal effect is used in numerical simulations of the observed phenomena. Numerical simulations are performed with finite element software. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modelling of sea-ice phenomena’.