Abstract
The indentation of rock particles into ice is an important aspect of understanding subsea interactions involving ice features. If rock particles are present at the interface between ice and an engineered structure, the question arises: will localization of contact by the rocks cause the ice to fail more easily, resulting in reduced ice pressures, or will rocks transmit high ice pressures through smaller contact areas between the rock and structure resulting in more intense contact stresses on the surface of the structure? This paper presents initial results from a series of tests investigating the indentation of multiple rock particles into an ice specimen, which builds on earlier ice indentation tests on single unconstrained rock particles. Observations from tests conducted using 170g samples of rocks ranging in size from 9.5mm–19.1mm for tests completed at an indentation rate of 0.5 mm/s for indentation depths of 5 mm and 7 mm are presented and discussed. In addition, preliminary results are presented from a Matlab model that has been developed based on the aggregation of independent, individual particle-ice interaction events to simulate multiple particle-ice interactions. A comparison of experimental and simulated results indicates good general agreement and supports the assumption of independent particle-ice indentation events for the interaction conditions considered.
