First-Year Ice Ridge Loads on the Molikpaq

• Main Authors: Timco, Garry, Wright, B., Johnston, Michelle, Frederking, Robert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Arctic; Beaufort Sea; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=8d4026e6-02f1-4485-bac0-6fb08cb9183f; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=8d4026e6-02f1-4485-bac0-6fb08cb9183f; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=8d4026e6-02f1-4485-bac0-6fb08cb9183f

The Molikpaq steel caisson structure was used for exploratory drilling for four winters in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. During its deployment, it experienced loads from moving ice fields that had a wide range of morphology. A large number of first-year sea ice ridges interacted and failed against the Molikpaq with a variety of different failure behaviour including spine failures, failure behind the ridge, mixed modal, shear failure and stopping of the ridge. This paper reviews these failure behaviours and provides some representative information on the global loads generated during ridge interaction with the Molikpaq. The global loads were on the order of 45 MN to 90 MN which, compared to level ice crushing, are in the low to moderate range. NRC publication: Yes