On the indentation of a blunt ice wedge

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:237947

Selvadurai, A P.S.; Sepehr, K ^[1]

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1. McGill Univ., Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics

The study of interaction between ice sheets and stationary rigid or flexible structures is of importance to the design of offshore structures in northern environments. The processes involved in the interaction between the ice sheet and the structure can involve a variety of micro-mechanical and macro-mechanical processes including flow, micro-mechanical damage and discrete fracture. These micro-mechanical processes can be achieved as a result of elastic, plastic and viscous behavior of the ice. Also, the extent to which each micro-mechanical process can dominate the interaction will depend on the loading rate of the ice sheet and ice sheet inhomogeneities including layering and inclusions. In this paper, the authors examine the problem of the plane strain interaction between a blunt ice wedge moving at a uniform velocity and a rigid stationary structure in a vertical plane. The constitutive behavior of the ice is modeled by an elastic-viscoplastic model and allows for the softening of the ice represented by a substantial rapid loss in strength. The viscoplastic behavior is characterized by a Mohr-Coulomb-type yield function and a fluidity parameter. The softened regions in the ice wedge are also represented by analogous viscoplastic models with substantially reduced values of the constitutive parameters.

• OSTI ID: 237947
• Report Number(s): CONF-950604--; ISBN 1-880653-18-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
ARCTIC REGIONS
FLOW MODELS
ICE
IMPACT STRENGTH
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
STRESS ANALYSIS