Author(s): Giacomo Stirpe; Mikko Suominen
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Sea ice; Flexural strength; Analytical modelling; Functionally graded material (FGM)
Abstract: To understand and estimate the flexural properties of sea ice beams, closed-form analytical models have been widely used. In this work, a study of the influence of different assumptions and parameters for a beam model applied to ice bending is done. A Functionally Graded Material (FGM) Euler – Bernoulli non-linear beam model is analysed to determine which properties affect mainly the prediction of flexural stresses. The variability of beam dimensions, slenderness ratios and thermal gradients is considered, as well as different test scenarios, e.g. ex-situ or in-situ tests and external loading conditions, as buoyancy and gravity. Various factors are analysed and simplifications to the original model are proposed. We highlight that in in-situ tests the combined effect of gravity and buoyancy can be disregarded for short beams without reducing significantly the accuracy of the estimated value, while in ex-situ tests gravity should be accounted in the model. Furthermore, linearisation of the strains seem to not induce much difference in the predicted stresses, while the decoupling of extensional – bending rigidities have a significant effect on the stress predictions for ex – situ tests, while in in – situ tests it can be ignored introducing an almost 7% accuracy loss. Finally, including thermal effects and stresses is fundamental to obtain accurate estimates of the stress distributions within the ice beam.
Year: 2026