Vertical stresses from grounded ice ridges, rubble and pads in the Beaufort Sea

• Main Authors: Barrette, P. D., Barker, A., Timco, G. W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering 2007
• Subjects: Beaufort Sea
• Online Access: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=11607fc2-1602-45c0-b18d-45657e2bda64; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=11607fc2-1602-45c0-b18d-45657e2bda64

Resistance to lateral loading of grounded ice, a critical design issue for offshore installations, is a function of the friction coefficient at the ice/seabed interface and the vertical stress exerted by the ice onto the seabed. In order to assess the latter, a range for each of the five basic parameters used for the estimation of vertical stress was obtained for ice ridges, grounded rubble and ice pads. Sail height is the most influential parameter, followed by water depth, rubble porosity, water density and ice density. A methodology for estimating vertical stresses is presented. The maximum stress expected for the ridges and the rubble is 24 ± 6 and 84 ± 7 kPa, respectively, taking into account the uncertainty related to water depth. In comparison, stresses up to about 60 kPa below ice pads are reported from the literature. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes