In the environmentally sensitive Arctic, the integrity of steel structures subject to ice loading is becoming more important as ships and marine structures are a major element of Northern activities. Although such structures are historically very conservatively designed, plastic limit states design is currently gaining currency for the design of ship structures for ice conditions. This paper describes full-scale laboratory experiments involving ice-structure interaction in which the structure and the ice undergo significant deformation. Stiffened panels representative of full-scale ship structure are loaded with laboratory-grown ice blocks quasi-statically to extreme load levels, resulting in large scale plastic deformation. These experiments are unique in scale for a laboratory environment. The results demonstrate the enormous plastic reserve capacity that exists in a steel grillage structure. Non-linear finite element (FE) analysis of the laboratory experiments is performed, and high fidelity is achieved between simulation and experiment. The close match between real-life results and finite element simulation validates the methods used and shows the value of nonlinear FE analysis in the application of ship structures.
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