An Experimental Study of Several Special Issues Regarding the Ice Force on Conical Structures

The effect of the cone spacing of a conieal structure on the ice force is studied by model experiments. The ice force reduction coefficient presented in this paper expresses the relationship between the ice force and the arrangement of cones. The experiments prove that the mode of the ice failure before the boundary of upward-downward bending cone (UDBC) is crushing. A conclusion can also be drawn from the experiments that the ice force on the boundary of UDBC is by far less than that on a vertical pile with the same diameter. Moreover, the ice force frequencies on upright and inve-rted cones are obtained under the field condition of the platform JZ20-2, respectively. The results show that the alterna-tion of the ice force on UDBC can hardly induce resonance of platform JZ20-2.

The Shielding Effect of Multi-Pile Structures on Ice Force

The shielding effect of the front pile-row on the ice force acting on the back pile-row is studied by ice force model tests. In the tests, the front pile-row is designed to model jacket legs and the back pile-row to model the water resisting pipe-phalanx within the jacket. The shielding factor for ice force corresponding to different conditions are given in this paper. The research indicates that there are many factors, including the longitudinal and lateral spacing between the front and back pile-row, ice attacking angle and the ratio of pile diameter to ice thickness, that influence the shielding effect on ice force.

Characteristics of the Function of Ice Force on Vertical Cylindrical Piles

A lot of tests on ice forces on vertical cylindrical piles are conducted in the ice basin of ice laboratory in Tianjin University to identify the characteristics of ice forces on fixed platforms in the Bohai Gulf. A function of ice forces is simplified on basis of test data, and the characteristics of the ice forces including the amplitude of the force and the breaking frequency of the ice sheet is detailed by use of the Fast-Fourier-Transform method, The results show that the ice breaking frequency presents a linear relationship with the ratio of ice moving velocity to ice thickness at low velocities. At high velocities, the frequency remains constant with the increase of the ratio of ice moving velocity to ice thickness. These conclusions are compared those published in literature.

Dynamics of Sea Ice and Spectrum of Ice Force

Spectrum and self-excite characters are the two significant characters of the dynamics of sea ice. The spectrum character of sea ice is mainly shown by the spectrum of ice force. The spectrum character of the sea ice is its intrinsic attributes. When the spectrum of ice force from the dynamic response of ice and structure interaction are evaluated, the effect of dynamic character of the structure must be eliminated. In this paper, the ice force spectrum at Bohai Bay and Liaodong Bay is evaluated from the displacement and strain responses of a single degree and a multi-degree freedom structure. The evaluated ice force spectrum can be used to define the spectrum character of ice in the analysis of ice induced vibration.

Probabilistic Distribution of Ice Forces on a Solitary Pile in the Liaodong Bay

The level ice thickness and compressive strength at the four measuring stations in the Liaodong Bay are inferred according to the hydrologic and meteorologic data there, then the yearly extreme ice forces on a solitary pile are calculated by the use of appropriate formula of ice forces and its probabilistic distribution is determined. Generally, the yearly extreme ice force follows Weibull distribution best as compared with Normal, Lognormal, and Extreme Value I distribution. On the other hand, the short-term distribution of ice forces on a solitary pile is obtained from the model experiment data analysis: It does not refuse Extreme Value I distribution.

A New Model for Ice Forces on A Conical Structure

The ice force is an important factor to be taken into account for offshore structures in cold regions, and the calculation method of the ice force is meaningful for the offshore structure design. The cone is now used as an optimal ice-resistant structure because it can cause bending failure of the ice sheet. The interaction between an ice sheet and a conical structure is studied in this paper and Croasdale's model is modified based on field observations. The newly built model separates the ice sheet into the emersed part and the floating part, and the equilibrium analyses are carried out respectively. The bending moment distribution of the ice sheet is analyzed for the determination of the position of bending failure, which serves as a supplementary restraint. The analytic solution of the ice force on a conical structure is obtained and it is verified with the experimental data of previous researches.

Lateral ice force acting on a vertical cylinder

In general, forward directed ice force is only considered by the designer. But experiments prove that thelateral ice force caused by the uneven contact between ice sheet and the pile also exists. The lateral ice force does notobject to normal or Gumbel distribution, and is not relevant to the forward directed one in numerical value. Preventivemeasures should be taken to avoid the damage caused by the lateral ice force to the structure in design phase.

Establishmen and vertification of an improved similitude law for dynamic ice force model test

To study the similitude laws for dynamic ice force model test which is a hot problem in ice mechanics.In this paper,a new modified similitude law for dynamic ice force model test is proposed based on ice-induced virbration theory and two reasonable assumptions.And the new law is vertified with an ice-induced pier virbration example.The numerical calculation results show that,firstly,the error of frequency factor between test value and theory value is small as well as that of displacement and velocity;Secondly,the time scale completely meet the similitude relation,the waveforms anastomotic well,and the phenomenon of offset and omit do not occur;Thirdly,as the damping ratio between prototype and model is nearly equal,the improved similitude law will still be applied.Therefore,the new modified similitude law is feasible to study dynamic ice force model test and can provide reference for the ice mechanics.

Ice-Induced Fatigue Analysis by Spectral Approach for Offshore Jacket Platforms with Ice-Breaking Cones

The spectral methods and ice-induced fatigue analysis are discussed based on Miner＇s linear cumulative fatigue hypothesis and S-N curve data. According to the long-term data of full-scale tests on the platforms in the Bohai Sea, the ice force spectrum of conical structures and the fatigue environmental model are established. Moreover, the finite element model of JZ20-2MSW platform, an example of ice-induced fatigue analysis, is built with ANSYS software. The mode analysis and dynamic analysis in frequency domain under all kinds of ice fatigue work conditions are carded on, and the fatigue life of the structure is estimated in detail. The methods in this paper can be helpful in ice-induced fatigue analysis of ice-resistant platforms.

Model Test Study on Ice-Induced Vibrations of Compliant Multi-Cone Structures

For the study on the ice-induced vibration of a compliant mono-cone structure,a series of model tests were performed from 2004 to 2006.In these tests,the ice sheet before the compliant conical structure was found to be failed in two-time breaking.Based on this important finding,model tests study of the ice force on a compliant multi-cone structure were performed from 2006 to 2007.In these tests,the ice sheet broke before each single cone non-simultaneously.The exciting energy of the total ice force was found to be in a wide range of frequencies,and the structure can be easily excited with nonlinear resonance.

Non-Simultaneous Failure of Ice in Front of Multi-Leg Structures

Because the multi-leg jacket structure is the major type of offshore structures in the Bohai Sea, the study of non-simultaneous failure of ice on multi-leg structures is important. However, the non-simultaneous failure has not been considered in engineering design until now, obviously resulting in costly design and notable waste. To resolve this problem, this paper, by means of analysis of experimental data, calculates the coefficient of the non-simultaneous failure for the double-pile structure, the square four-leg structure, the single-line multi-pile structure, and the conical structure, respectively, and provides some reference criteria for engineering design.

Classification Criteria of Narrow/Wide Ice-ResistantConical Structures Based on Direct Measurements

Ice-induced structural vibration generally decreases with an increase in structural width at the waterline. Definitions of wide/narrow ice-resistant conical structures, according to ice-induced vibration, are directly related to structure width, sea ice parameters, and clearing modes of broken ice. This paper proposes three clearing modes for broken ice acting on conical structures: complete clearing, temporary ice pile up, and ice pile up. In this paper, sea ice clearing modes and the formation requirements of dynamic ice force are analyzed to explore criteria determining wide/narrow ice-resistant conical structures. According to the direct measurement data of typical prototype structures, quantitative criteria of the ratio of a cone width at waterline(D) to sea ice thickness(h) is proposed. If the ratio is less than 30(narrow conical structure), broken ice is completely cleared and a dynamic ice force is produced; however, if the ratio is larger than 50(wide conical structure), the front stacking of broken ice or dynamic ice force will not occur.

A study of ice response spectra

Some problems concerning the ice forces and ice response spectra are studied from both theoretical and practical points of view. On the basis of structural analysis,the analysis method of ice response spectra is proposed, since it plays an important role in the prediction of maximum structural response in cold regions. And it is illustrated that it is easy to study the structural response to ice using the ice response spectra.

Quantifying the contribution of natural variability to September Arctic sea ice decline

Arctic sea ice extent has been declining in recent decades. There is ongoing debate on the contribution of natural internal variability to recent and future Arctic sea ice changes. In this study, we contrast the trends in the forced and unforced simulations of carefully selected global climate models with the extended observed Arctic sea ice records. The results suggest that the natural variability explains no more than 42.3% of the observed September sea ice extent trend during 35 a（1979–2013） satellite observations, which is comparable to the results of the observed sea ice record extended back to 1953（61 a, less than 48.5% natural variability）. This reinforces the evidence that anthropogenic forcing plays a substantial role in the observed decline of September Arctic sea ice in recent decades. The magnitude of both positive and negative trends induced by the natural variability in the unforced simulations is slightly enlarged in the context of increasing greenhouse gases in the 21st century.However, the ratio between the realizations of positive and negative trends change has remained steady, which enforces the standpoint that external forcing will remain the principal determiner of the decreasing Arctic sea ice extent trend in the future.