Collision of Large Floating Ice Feature with Massive Offshore Structure

A collision of a large floating ice feature—ice island, iceberg, or multiyear ice floe—with a massive gravity‐type offshore structure in the transition zone of the northern arctic seas during the open water period presents an important engineering problem. In many cases, the ice load developed during the impact affects the design and governs the overall stability of the structure. Though the problem has been recently addressed in a few publications, where it was considered from both deterministic and probabilistic viewpoints, it is still far from being solved. The main objective of this paper is to provide criteria to assess the ice load developing during the impact. No aspect related to the probability of occurrence of the collision is addressed herein. The theory is based on a fundamental classical approach and provides simple criteria for assessment of kinetic energy of the ice feature, the extent of indentation of the structure into the ice, and the global ice load generated by the impact. All results are presented in a closed analytical form convenient for practical engineering applications.