A Comparison of Ice Loads From Level Ice and Ice Ridges on Sloping Offshore Structures Calculated in Accordance With Different International and National Standards

Existing national and international standards for determination of level ice and ice ridge loads on sloping offshore structures recommend different methods for the analysis. The objective of this paper is to review the codes and standards recommendations regarding ice-sloping structures interaction process and highlight the differences between them. Development of offshore hydrocarbon fields in the Eastern Barents Sea is foreseen to take place in the near future while developments already take place in the Pechora Sea and offshore Sakhalin as well as in the Northern Caspian Sea. One of the most difficult issues facing the designer of offshore structures for these areas is how to design for loads from level ice and ice ridges. The ice load considerations will have a major effect on the form and cost of these structures. It is known that different designers use very different ice load estimates (Shkhinek et al., 1994). The standards recommend different methods for determination of the global ice loads on both cone-shaped and sloping rectangular structures. For determination of the global ice loads on these types of structures, it is obvious that the ice-structure interaction process must be identified. Rubble effects must be included in the analysis. The ice-structure interaction process for these geometries depends on many factors, such as; the ice thickness, ice strength, ice-structure friction coefficient, ice velocity, width of the structure and slope angle of the structure. The methods for determination of ice loads recommended by the different standards are very much influenced by local ice conditions and the parameters listed above are given different importance in the different standards. The differences in loads calculated by using the different standards and their validity for the ice-structure interaction process have been investigated and example calculations are presented to show these differences. It is thought that the paper may be of interest for those preparing the new ISO standard (ISO 19906) on Arctic Offshore Structures.