Simulation Study of Bearing Capacity of Floating Ice Sheet

In cold regions, ice covers on rivers, lakes, seas are often used as temporary roads, bridges, airfields, and construction platforms. For these uses, it is important to understand that there must be a sufficient margin of safety between the breakthrough loads and the actual loads placed on a floating ice sheet. Therefore, an inclusive study of bearing capacity of floating ice sheet is necessary and important. Based on Devinder Sodhi's experimental study, the wedging action hypothesis was forwarded to further explore the bearing capacity of ice sheet due to concentrated load. However, it is difficult to approve this hypothesis by means of experimental measurements. In contrast, the numerical simulation may be the best way to approve this important assumption. In this paper, a series of Finite Element models simulating the cracking progress of ice sheets due to a concentrated load on a circular floating ice sheet were created and Contact element was used to represent the cracking condition. Simulation of the cracking progress was performed. The wedging action force and moment generated in ice sheet were calculated. The successful research results in this paper can support the wedging action hypothesis well which could provide a relative accurate and simplified method to calculate ice loads acting on ice sheets. The results can be applied by the practical engineers in cold regions.