Experimental and Numerical Models of Wave Reflection and Transmission by an Ice Floe

The marginal ice zone (MIZ) is the outer part of the sea-ice covered ocean, where ice can be found in the form of large floating chucks better known as floes. Since it is the area where the most part of the interaction between ice cover and ocean waves takes place, it requires careful modelling. However existing mathematical models, based on the traditional thin-plate theory, underestimate waves attenuation for the most energetic waves, since the energy dissipation occurring during the process is not taken into account. New laboratory experimental and direct numerical models are presented here. In the experimental model a thin plastic plate is tested under the action of incident waves with varying amplitudes and periods. The same experimental set-up was reproduced using a numerical model, which was developed by coupling a High Order Spectral Numerical Wave Tank with the Navier-Stokes solver IHFOAM. Data from the experiments and numerical models confirm that non-linear effects lead to a decrease of wave transmission.