Arctic seabed ice gouging and large sub-gouge deformations

摘要

Seabed ice gouging is a potential problem in Arctic hydrocarbon production. Large ice masses ground in shallow water and gouge into the seabed, pushed along by wind, current and the pressure of other ice masses. Gouging occurs in the Beaufort Sea, off the coast of Sakhalin, in the Canadian Arctic Islands, in the Russian Arctic, and in the northern Caspian. It has been of much concern to pipeline engineers. Severe damage would occur if the cutting force required to cut one of the observed gouges were applied to a marine pipeline, and is possible even if a pipeline is buried below the maximum gouging depth, because the ice drags the seabed soil beneath the gouge and distorts the pipeline. New developments using ALE methods make it possible to determine deformations confidently. The results are compared with those from centrifuge model tests.