The Influence of Ice Response to the Peak Ice Load on Ship’s Bow Shoulder

The interest in arctic sea routes and natural resources poses a challenge to the ship building industry. The ice-induced loads on ship hull need to be understood. These loads include multiple uncertainties. In addition to the mechanical properties of ice varying a lot (Timco and Weeks, 2010), also the ship-ice contact geometry is constantly changing (Daley, 1991) as the ship navigates through ice. This paper analyses stereo camera photos in order to examine what the ice response is as the peak ice load occurred on ship’s bow shoulder. Weibull distributions are fitted to loads in each ice response mode, after which the distribution predictions are compared. The results suggest that the response mode influences the measured peak ice load. Hence by knowing the ice response mode in addition to other influencing covariates, ice loads could be predicted more accurately. The low loads are predicted in condition where the ice seems to break more easily, whereas high loads are predicted with rotating ice floes, crushing of ice and when ice floes are pushed on top of other ice.