IDENTIFYING ICE LOAD ON OFFSHORE PLATFORM BASED ON LOCALLY CONCENTRATED STRAIN RESPONSE

Ice load measurement is important in characterizing the interaction between ice and offshore platform.This paper reviews ice load measurement around the world since 1960s.Some common difficulties are discussed regarding direct measurement using pressure cells and indirect estimation using structural response.A new method of measuring ice load using locally concentrated strain response of offshore structures is proposed to overcome the difficulties.A sleeve-like structure attached to the offshore platform is designed for the purpose.The basic principle of the method is discussed,and the sources of solution error and solution stability are analyzed theoretically.Some principles are also discussed on how to estimate the loading area and how to select the measurement points for the proposed method.Finally a numerical simulation and the experimental validation using a scaled sleeve-like model,including dynamic strain response calibration under concentrated load,are performed respectively to prove the effectiveness of the method.