Experimental-analytical method for determining the global ice load from ice compression on ships and floating platforms used as polar drifting observatories

Abstract

The article considers the problem of determining global ice loads from ice compression on ships, icebreakers, floating platforms used as bases for drifting Arctic research stations. The author solves the task of forecasting ice loads during operation by combining mathematical methods and physical modeling in the ice tank. As a result, an experimental-analytical method for modeling ice compression in an ice tank has been obtained. The basic part of the technique is a new mathematical model that describes the physical processes that accompany the quasi-static interaction of a floating object with inclined sides in the middle part of the hull with a thick one-year or multi-year ice field. The experimental part of the methodology is a special technology for conducting serial model tests in an ice tank, which makes it possible to use the developed mathematical model to assess the ice loads under ice compression. The author considers the application of a new modeling technique on the example of the ice-resistant self-propelled platform “North Pole”. The results of the assessment of the global ice load based on the data of a series of model tests carried out in the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) ice tank are presented.