Theory

Over the past few years, extensive research and development have been carried out to build SAMS. Largely speaking, SAMS comprises three distinct yet fully integrated modules:

1. A multi-body dynamic module taking into account ice – ice and ice – structure contacts;
2. A fracture module predicting the fracture of sea ice during the interactions;
3. A hydrodynamic module offering solution to hydrodynamics during ice – structure interactions.

These three different modules are featured by the following innovations:

• Utilization of a non-smooth discrete element method (NDEM) with an implicit integration scheme, allowing efficient and accurate simulations.
• A contact model based on full–scale and model–scale measurements of actual ice–ice and ice–structure contacts, which resembles the local contact crushing.
• Novel closed-form solutions to simulate the fracture of sea ice covering such modes as bending failure, splitting and radial cracking. These solutions have been developed as a result of long-term research, which involved both full- and model scale experiments.
• A sophisticated hydrodynamic model, which along with wind and current also takes into account and simulates the effects of ship propellers on the ice and water.

These solutions are calibrated and validated against full-scale and lab-scale data.

Further information on each module can be found at the following links:

1. Multi-body interaction/contact studies
2. Fracture of ice floes (see application below)
3. Hydrodynamics and multi-rigid body interactions (see detailed links below)

• Wave-ice-structure interactions
• Propeller wash simulation
• Station keeping simulation
• Ship transit in level ice

More demonstrations of each module can be found under Demos.