Rubble Ice Transport on Arctic Offshore Structures (RITAS), part IV: Tactile sensor measurement of the level ice load on inclined plate

When level ice interacts with downward wide sloping structures, the incoming level ice usually fails in bending failure mode. As the failed rubble accumulates, the bending process is influenced by the rubble beneath. An experimental investigation of the effect from the volume-growing rubble field in front of a sloping structure is described in the present paper. It is completed by 3 associated papers: “Rubble Ice Transport on Arctic Offshore Structures (RITAS), part I: Model scale investigation of level ice action mechanisms”, “Part II: 2D model scale study of the level ice action”, and “part III: Analysis of model scale rubble ice stability”. The present paper describes an experiment where the authors have mounted a tactile sensor on the sloping surface of a structure measuring the ice pressure’s spatial and temporal variation. As oppose to the ice load measured at the waterline, it is found out that equally large ice load was also detected below waterline region. This is postulated due to the contribution from the ice rotating process. Especially, as the accumulated rubble’s volume grows, the load induced by the ice rotating process and static rubble pressure increase significantly and eventually changes the ice bending process.