| Summary: | Ice rubble constitutes ice ridges and rubble fields, which can exert high loads on offshore structures. To characterize the ice rubble, its average properties are often desired. The properties, such as, the critical state friction angle, rely on the continuum notion of stress. This study uses discrete element model for the ice rubble. We use an average stress tensor from the contact forces between the ice blocks and compare it to the macroscopic stress tensor yielded by the boundary contact forces. These stress definitions are used to evaluate the uncertainty in defining the stress tensor for the ice rubble, and the related uncertainty in defining the critical state friction angle for the rubble. Peer reviewed
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