Journal of Cold Regions Engineering

A successful cost‐effective exploratory operation in a remote, harsh (cold) climate is largely dependent upon the attention given to logistics managements and planning. Since the discovery of oil and other mineral resources in the Arctic, significant interest has been generated in exploring this and other extreme environments in the interest of seeking knowledge and potential resources. Although numerous experiences of long‐duration remote sites in the Arctic is documented, a comprehensive dynamic logistics system for short‐duration explorations is lacking. In this paper, logistics components for short‐duration research and development operations at remote sites with extreme climatic exposures are identified. The framework of a dynamic management and planning system for logistics is presented. A preliminary nationwide survey of experts, active in planning short‐duration explorations in remote extreme environments, estimated in the time required for each logistic component of a hypothetical research operation in the Arctic. The results of the survey, showing optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic logistic activity times (procurement/ease/contract/delivery), were used to develop a PERT scheduling network.

Cable‐moored platforms may be an attractive engineering approach to the problem of conducting engineering activities such as drilling in moderately deep (20–70 m) ice‐covered waters. However, the dynamic performance of such platforms in a variety of ice conditions requires further elucidation. This paper presents results of ice‐tank tests performed with a model‐scale platform and sheets of urea model ice. A total of 57 tests were conducted, the prime variables being ice speed and ice sheet thickness and plan dimensions, and stiffness of cable‐mooring system for restraining a platform. Forces increased monotonically with layer thickness. Resonance effects and the process of collar formation around the platform complicated the variation of forces with ice speed such that a clear trend of mooring forces with ice speed is not readily apparent. Mooring stiffness has a marked effect on resistance forces indicating that these forces may display a minimum value for model mooring stiffnesses of order 1 kN/m. Such findings have obvious practical import, and further work is needed in this area.