Discrete Element Simulation and Analysis of Ice-Inclined Structure Interaction

Inclined structure is an important marine structure in the iced area. The change of the inclined angle will change the main failure mode of sea ice and affect the peak ice force acted on the structure. In order to simulate the random breaking characteristics of level ice, an irregular distributed dilated disk element model with bond-break function is constructed, and the dynamic process of interaction between the level ice and the inclined structure is simulated based on this model, which is verified by comparing the peak ice forces obtained by numerical simulation with the peak ice forces measured in the field. The influence law of the inclined angle on the ice force and the ice failure mode is analyzed. It shows that the variation of ice load with the changes of inclined angles simulated by the numerical method is basically consistent with the variation calculated by the two-dimensional theoretical model. With the increase of the incline angle, the proportion of bending failure decreases and the peak ice force and its occurrence probability increase. The inclined angle is an important factor in the change of sea ice failure modes and the peak ice force. This paper can be used as a reference for discrete element numerical simulation of sea ice and ice-resist design of inclined marine structures. © 2022 Shanghai Jiao Tong University. All rights reserved.