Buckling of a Half Ice Sheet Against a Cylinder

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the elastic buckling failure of a semi-infinite ice sheet moving against a cylindrical structure and computes the ice pressure associated with this failure mode. The basic equations are derived by applying the virtual work theorem to a plate on an elastic foundation, followed by a Fourier expansion of the variables in the circumferential coordinate. Numerical solutions are presented in dimensionless form. The results indicate that the boundary condition between the structure and the ice sheet is very important. The buckling pressure for an ice sheet with a fixed boundary condition is about four times as great as one with a frictionless boundary condition.