RESPONSE OF TWO PIERS ON CONFEDERATION BRIDGE

• Main Authors: R. Frederking, I. Kubat, S. Prinsenberg
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.565.5405; http://web2.clarkson.edu/projects/iahrice/IAHR 2006/contents/29_s119.pdf

A large piece of shore fast ice approximately 5 by 10 km broke free and drifted through Northumberland Strait on April 4 2003, interacting with the piers of the Confederation Bridge. The ice had been surveyed shortly before its break-up and its thickness was about 1 m with many ridges of about 4 m thickness when averaged over a 20-m diameter. While the ice was quite thick, it was late in the season and thus relatively warm, resulting in the maximum force determined on the two piers to be only in the order of 2 MN. Hand held videos of the episode provided an overview of the ice failure processes observed. KEY WORDS: Ice forces, Structure response, Ice failure behaviour, Sea ice.