Numerical simulation of level ice impact on landing craft bow considering the transverse isotropy of Baltic Sea ice based on XFEM

Ice bending is a major failure mechanism of level ice when ships and marine structures interact with level ice. This paper aims to investigate the ice bending and ice load when level ice collides on ships and marine structures using numerical simulation method, and compare the numerical results with field test. The fracture of ice is simulated with extended finite element method (XFEM), and cohesive zone concept is used to describe the crack propagation. In order to consider the characteristics of S2 columnar ice, a transversely isotropic elastic material model is used for the ice bulk elements, and a transversely isotropic Tsai-Wu failure criterion is adopted to predict the initiation of cracks. A well-controlled field test of a landing craft bow colliding with level ice in Baltic Sea is simulated to verify the numerical scheme. The ice plate's continuous deformation, crack initiation and crack propagation at different impact velocities and angles are simulated and the results are discussed. In the simulation, the bending crack emerges at the midline of the top surface of ice plate, then propagates towards free boundary, and finally a circumferential crack forms. It is found that with the impact velocity increases, the bending load increases and the fracture size (perpendicular distance from the crack to the contact edge) decreases. And as the angle between the landing craft bow and vertical direction increases, the bending load and the fracture size decrease. The simulated results corresponds well with the field test. The competition between the circumferential crack and radial crack is also found in the simulation and will be discussed in this paper. The results show that this method well simulates the bending of level ice and predict the ice load, and provides a good approach for investigating the mechanism of different forms of level ice fracture.