• Ocean Systems Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.313-330
• /
• 2021

In this study, the dynamic interaction between an Arctic Spar and drifting level ice is examined in time domain using the newly developed ice-hull-mooring coupled dynamics program. The in-house program, CHARM3D, which is the hull-riser-mooring coupled dynamic simulator is extended by coupling with the open-source discrete element method (DEM) simulator, LIGGGHTS. In the LIGGGHTS module, the parallel-bonding method is implemented to model the level ice using an assembly of multiple bonded spherical particles. As a case study, a spread-moored Artic Spar platform, whose hull surface near waterline is the inverted conical shape, is chosen. To determine the breaking-related DEM parameter (the critical bonding strength), the four-point numerical bending test is used. A series of numerical simulations is systematically performed under the various ice conditions including ice drift velocity, flexural strength, and thickness. Then, the effects of these parameters on the ice force, platform motions, and mooring tensions are discussed. The simulations reveal various features of dynamic interactions between the drifting ice and moored platform for various ice conditions including the novel synchronous resonance at low ice speed. The newly developed simulator is promising and can repeatedly be used for the future design and analysis including ice-floater-mooring coupled dynamics.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.136-146
• /
• 2021

This paper aims to numerically estimate the dynamic ice load on a conical structure. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is employed to model the level ice as the assembly of numerous spherical particles. To mimic the realistic fracture mechanism of ice, the parallel bonding method is introduced. Cases with four different ice drifting velocities are considered in time domain. For validation, the statistics of time-varying ice forces and their frequencies obtained by numerical simulations are extensively compared against the physical model-test results. Ice properties are directly adopted from the targeted experimental test set up. The additional parameters for DEM simulations are systematically determined by a numerical three-point bending test. The findings reveal that the numerical simulation estimates the dynamic ice force in a reasonably acceptable range and its results agree well with experimental data.