Study of Natural Forces Acting on Floating Ice Fields

The response of finite ice floes to water waves is analyzed for relatively deep water. The deformation and peak outer fibre stress are studied for various floe dimensions and elastic properties over a range of incident wave lengths. It is found that for long incident wave lengths the floe duplicates the incident wave characteristics and the response is thus independent of floe thickness. For shorter incident wave lengths the response is strongly dependent upon floe thickness, and the amount of incident wave energy transmitted beneath the floe. For longer incident wave lengths the probability of floe fracture is quite low because the transmitted energy is absorbed in rigid body motion. For shorter incident wave lengths, however, the stresses in the floe can be very high and thus, regardless of floe dimensions, the probability of fracture is high provided that the incident wave amplitude is large. A study of the pertinent properties of sea ice is included in order to establish the values used in the numerical work. (Author).