The frozen-in scenario-a condition where the offshore wind farm is fully enveloped by a large ice cover-is not typically considered during design. The current study explores this scenario by including a sufficiently large surrounding ice sheet, modelled as a representative linear elastic spring at mean sea level, in a dynamic model of an offshore wind turbine. The effects of the presence of ice on natural frequencies and flexibility of the offshore wind turbine is investigated, as well as its effect on load effects in typical wind-dominated design load cases. Emphasis is placed on cases governing the design of structures above waterline, such as extreme coherent gusts and directional changes. By varying the spring stiffness representing the ice, the load, deformation, and strain rate the modelled ice was subject to, were determined. The study found that the extreme overturning moment and damage equivalent moment reduce when the offshore wind foundations are surrounded by ice, whereas the shear increases from MSL and below. The combined load effects from the frozen-in load case show a higher utilization for a few select elevations below MSL. Depending on the assumed relationship between ice thickness and stiffness, the study evaluates the conditions under which the ice sheet could potentially grow and remain intact during both power production and extreme events. These findings indicate that based on the current methodology, the frozen-in load case cannot be disregarded and should be included in design in regions where there is an increased risk of encountering these conditions. However, it is expected that with improved ice modelling, accounting for viscoelastic behavior and ice failure, utilization levels would not exceed those observed in ice-free conditions.@en

In this paper, we focus on investigating ship activities in the United States’ Arctic waters and developing new viscoelastic materials that can mimic specific ice behavior. This is a significant challenge, and we discuss potential positive outcomes and how the acquired knowledge can contribute to understanding ice behavior in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. We first define ice and ship statistics, providing a foundational understanding of potential ice–ship interactions. We then describe the development of thought experiments for wave–ice interactions and the creation of a numerical environment for modeling purposes. This step is crucial for simulating various scenarios related to ice and wave dynamics, ultimately contributing to the design of ships capable of navigating safely in diverse Arctic conditions. Finally, stakeholder and community engagement is addressed, recognizing the importance of involving local perspectives and insights to ensure practical, socially responsible, and effective solutions.

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The design of flexible vertical offshore structures exposed to crushing ice, such as offshore wind turbines, can become governed by ice loads and the structural response associated with low relative speeds between ice and structure. Low ice speeds can cause significant loads due to pressure synchronization and/or increase in contact, potentially larger than those observed at high ice speeds, which is often referred to as the velocity effect. In this study, the dataset from the full-scale measurement campaign at the Norströmsgrund lighthouse is reanalyzed. Several instances of ice load amplification are identified and presented, to confirm that synchronization and the velocity effect developed. The increase in ice load is quantified and discussed in the context of a theoretical framework, and model- and full-scale observations of the velocity effect on other structures. Then several events of high-speed crushing are investigated and the potential global pressures at low speeds for those events are estimated based on the theoretical framework. These estimates are compared to typical high-speed global crushing pressures used to define the ice strength coefficient CR for the Baltic Sea. It is found that the velocity effect may produce global pressures equivalent to a CR factor above 0.9 MPa. The results provide a theoretical substantiation for inclusion of the velocity effect and a possible physical interpretation of the recommended value of 1.8 MPa in the ISO 19906 design standard.

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A modeling approach to simulate ice-induced vibrations of vertically sided offshore structures in ice tank experiments is presented. The technique combines replica modeling with the preservation of kinematics during ice-structure interaction. The technique was chosen based on the theoretical understanding that ice-induced vibrations are caused by an energy exchange between the structure and the ice. The mechanism is controlled by primarily four aspects: the kinematics during ice-structure interaction, the degree to which the ice can resist higher loading at low velocities prior to failure (velocity effect), the existence of a transition speed from ductile-to-brittle failure, and the mean ice load level. A model ice type which resulted in a velocity effect and provided a transition speed comparable to that of sea ice was developed and used during ice tank experiments. A scaling factor, derived from the comparison between the mean brittle crushing ice load of the full-scale event and the in-situ measured mean brittle crushing model ice load, was applied to scale structure properties of a numerical model. This model was implemented during real-time hybrid simulations in model ice to preserve kinematics during the ice-structure interaction. To verify the proposed scaling approach, rigid indenter experiments covering velocities from 0.1 mm s⁻¹ to 500 mm s⁻¹ and dynamic ice-induced vibration experiments of structures with varying aspect ratios (8 and 12) and shapes (cylindrical and rectangular) were conducted. Neither the aspect ratio nor shape appeared to influence the development of ice-induced vibrations significantly. The approach was qualitatively validated by reproducing full-scale ice-induced vibrations as experienced by the Molikpaq platform and Norströmsgrund lighthouse.

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The study investigated the use of a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) technique applied in model ice experiments to enable the analysis of offshore structures with low natural frequencies under dynamic ice loading. Traditional approaches were limited by facility capacities and ineffective downscaling of the geometry of the offshore structures. The goal of the present study was to overcome these challenges and to enhance the understanding and explore the applicability of a hybrid testing technique in model ice experiments. To achieve the objective, 204 Hardware-in-the-Loop simulations in model Ice (HiLI) were analyzed. Results showed robust behavior and good performance of the HiLI due to minimal variation in measured delay, normalized root mean square error, and peak tracking error and low magnitudes of such parameters despite alterations in factors such as the choice of the numerical structural model, physical prototype, measurement system, and ice type. Notably, the performance of the HiLI was affected when testing with warm model ice or scaling for harsh ice conditions, attributed to a reduced signal-to-noise ratio and instability of the system, respectively. Experimental identification of the critical delay, along with the application of an analytical stability criterion, revealed that the instability observed, was likely induced by reducing the structural stiffness of the numerical structural model to fulfil the scaling requirements when testing for harsh ice conditions. Additionally, the study showed improved HiLI performance when the physical prototype was in contact with the model ice. This observation was further analyzed and is assumed to be caused by the coupling between the ice and physical prototype, causing a coupled and thus increased eigenfrequency of the physical prototype-ice system.

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Baltic Sea offshore wind development has seen a rapid growth in the past decade with major projects developed and constructed in the Southern Baltic Sea and attention now slowly turning to the more challenging Northern Baltic Sea areas. With respect to sea ice engineering, the focus the past years has been on determination of global loads on the support structures, in particular development of ice-induced vibrations has received much attention. In this paper specific sea ice engineering questions encountered in discussions with designers of offshore wind support structures between 2018 and 2023 are presented. The focus is on questions which do not seem to have a straightforward answer yet. These relate to the completeness of the load case table, interpretation of the ice strength coefficient CR, jamming and sheltering effects for multi-legged structures, design of appurtenances for ice loading, ridge loads, and sea ice dynamics in the presence of wind farms.@en

A field campaign in the Vallunden lagoon in the Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen was conducted to gather data on sea ice restoration by artificial flooding. Sea ice thickening was initiated by pumping sea water from below the first-year sea ice onto the surface without removing the covering snow layer. Part of the data was collected by four thermistor strings, two radiation sensors, and one anemometer. All measurement systems were left in the field until recovery of the floating systems in summer. Data provided by the measurement devices were received remotely to gather data before, during, and after the flooding phase (including the melting for as long as the sensors were sending data). Furthermore, coring systems were used to extract 88 ice cores for analysis of temperature, density and bulk salinity profiles along the full length of the ice cores before, during and within four days after flooding. The data set can be used to investigate physical processes involved in the ice growth before, during and after flooding. The data can be used to understand the development, growth and melting of snow ice. The radiation data can be used to analyze the (reflected) radiation of the initial, flooded and melting ice. Data gathered during the melting can be used to investigate the melting of thickened sea ice with different initial conditions prior to the onset of melting. Data on bulk salinity can be used to investigate short-term salt migration. Combing the different insights, growth- and melting models of sea ice including snow and snow ice can be validated. The understanding of melt-water drainage events could be improved and flow models for simulation of artificial flooding of snow-covered first-year sea ice could be further developed using the data.

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Drifting sea ice failing in crushing against vertically-sided offshore structures can cause ice-induced vibrations. Offshore structures are typically founded on slender structures to minimize the load effect of waves and currents. In combination with large top masses, those offshore structures often provide sufficient compliance for ice-induced vibrations to develop. Although modern offshore structures can be expected to experience ice-induced vibrations in higher structural modes, this phenomenon is rarely considered during experiments and numerical analysis of dynamic ice-structure interaction. Inspired by this challenge, we investigated experimentally how the sole change of mode shape amplitude relation between higher structural modes at the water level of a multi-degree-of-freedom structure influences the development of frequency lock-in. Experiments of four different multi-degree-of-freedom structures in cold model ice have been performed in Aalto Ice and Wave Tank. To allow full control over the eigensystem during testing, modal representations of structures were implemented in the numerical domain of a hybrid test setup. When changing the mode shape amplitude, the total structural stiffness at the ice action point and modal damping as a fraction of critical were kept constant between the four structures. We found that the structure experienced sustained frequency lock-in vibrations in a frequency corresponding to the mode shape amplitude of artificially high magnitude. When mode shape amplitudes of two eigenmodes were equalized, the structure experienced oscillations in the frequency of the mode with lower frequency or lower damping mainly. It was found that ice-induced vibrations of multi-degree-of-freedom structures are highly dependent on the relative velocity between the ice and structure and thus on the superposition of higher mode oscillations with lower mode oscillations.@en

Climate change is affecting global weather patterns, but nowhere is this more apparent than in the Arctic. The Arctic is an extreme environment going through rapid climate change, resulting in the opening of new shipping lanes and leading to less multiyear ice formation. This increases the risk of collision with the sea ice making it difficult to make long term voyage plans based on sea ice predictions. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) provides important services for marine domain awareness. For safe and effective ship traffic management and the development of new artificial intelligence (AI) marine algorithms, precise AIS readings for hull size and type are typically required. In this paper, we provide a summary of ship activities as well as relevant ice information in Alaskan waters that may result in ice-ship interactions and discuss them. AIS ship data was used to determine the ship speed distribution in different areas in the Alaskan waters. Ship movement in ice infested regions was compared with sea ice data from the Copernicus Reanalysis Products and sea ice thickness was estimated using empirical equations to identify potential ship-sea ice interactions. Data from 2015 to 2020 was analyzed to determine if there is an increase in maritime activity that can be linked to a decline in sea ice extent in Alaskan waters. The AIS data was also sorted by ship hull types to see how the different sectors of the Alaskan maritime industry are changing over time in ice-covered areas.@en

The authors regret their errors in the production of the legend labels and marker colors in Fig. 15 on page 11. The correct legend labels and marker colors are provided in the figure below:[Formula presented] The authors would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.

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The effect of misalignment between wind- and ice loading direction on the development of ice-induced vibrations of offshore wind turbines has been investigated experimentally. In the experiments a hybrid test setup was used to study the structural response to combined loading from physical model ice and numerically applied wind. The motivation for this study was the high uncertainty in the design of offshore wind turbine support structures in cold regions, caused by scarcity of full-scale and model-scale data on ice-structure interaction. Test results revealed that misaligned scenarios result in the development of sustained ice-induced vibrations in the ice load direction. The test results also showed that ice-induced vibrations can develop up to higher ice drift speeds for misaligned scenarios than for aligned scenarios. Both observations are considered to be related to low total damping in the ice drift direction for a misaligned scenario. Further comparison between a 90°-misaligned operational and an aligned idling scenario revealed that wind-induced structural displacements perpendicular to the ice drift direction do not cause the ice to fail. On the contrary, it was shown that the ice constrains the wind-induced motion for low relative velocities between ice and structure. For high relative velocities, wind-induced displacements approach those in open water as the ice fails in rapid succession at the sides of the structure during crushing. The analysis of a misaligned scenario with a smaller misalignment angle revealed that vibrations occur perpendicular to the ice drift direction and are characterized by relatively low amplitude and high frequency. The ice, being in contact with the structure, neither prevented those vibrations nor failed.

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For offshore wind turbines on monopile or jacket foundations without ice cones, one of the relevant design load cases is that of ice floes or level ice crushing against the structure resulting in ice-induced vibrations. In relation to that design load case, a relevant question is which ice strength coefficient to use in the crushing formula in ISO 19906 for determining design peak loads during intermittent crushing. Despite the guidelines in the standard being relatively clear on this matter, there often exists uncertainty regarding if and how to account for velocity effects and compliance effects when defining the ice strength coefficient CR. Ice tank tests were recently conducted to investigate the dependence of global peak loads on far-field ice speed for both rigid and compliant structures. Those tests revealed that the compliance effect and velocity effect on the global loads originate from the same strengthening effect in the ice. As a consequence, the absolute global loads on the rigid structure and compliant structure did not differ significantly. Applying these results to the challenge of defining the ice strength coefficient for intermittent crushing, it can be stated that if the velocity effect is accounted for in the ice strength coefficient, then there is no need for further increase due to compliance of the structure. ISO 19906 provides some suggested values for the ice strength coefficient which include provisions for the velocity effect and can therefore be directly applied to determine the peak loads during intermittent crushing, as the standard also suggests.@en

EU urgently needs to increase the development of secure and green energy, and this includes renewables such as Offshore wind energy. An expansion of Offshore wind will include the Baltic where sea ice is one of the major uncertainties. To ensure that the w ind turbines are safe for people and the environment, while keeping them economically competitive better guidelines and regulations should b e developed collaboratively by European industry and academia. There are unsolved challenge s with respect to ice action on structures for offshore wind. However, in the current draft for Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 on Climate, Energy and Mobility1, the challenges related to sea ice with regards to Offshore wind energy are not mentioned. In order to meet the crucial green energy goals, it is our statement that it is imperative to include sea ice i n the final version.@en

The manual application of universal (Rigsby) stage techniques is commonly used to determine the fabric of thin sections of ice viewed with crossed-polarized light. This process can require hours of focus in cold conditions to identify the c-axis of each grain in a thin section. Automated ice texture and fabric methods of several forms exist but are rarely implemented beyond the field of glaciology. The present study introduces a method based on the theory of interference coloration for automated ice texture and quarter fabric analysis by using in-plane conventional photography of an ice thin section as input. The method is compatible with universal stages and polariscopes, and is not restricted by the planar-face dimensions of the thin section, allowing for thin section analysis of any size when sufficient digital camera resolution is available. Light source color temperature and chromatic adaptation are considered in the interference coloration theory, and ice fabrics are simulated for reference in identifying ice types. Sample thin section texture and quarter fabric analyses from freshwater lake and laboratory-grown ice are presented to demonstrate the applications of the method. The method is compared with the Rigsby stage technique, which yielded mean (standard deviation of) azimuth and inclination errors of 2.9 (1.0) and 11.5 (8.0) degrees, respectively, thereby demonstrating accuracy sufficient for quantifying quarter fabrics when considering a mean standard deviation in inclination of 5.4 degrees with the Rigsby stage technique.

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Increased activity in planning offshore wind farms in the northern Baltic Sea has renewed interest in studying the effect of ice cones on ice failure mechanisms. In preparation for future experiments with steep ice cones, preliminary ice basin experiments were performed at the Aalto Ice and Wave Tank to investigate how model ice fails against a 3D-printed cylindrical and a conical structure representative of wind turbine foundations. The main motivation behind the two structures is to test ice loads on a monopile foundation and a monopile foundation fitted with an upward-bending ice cone. Each structure was tested at eight different velocities in three ice sheets with varying mechanical properties, including a newly developed, crushing-optimized model ice. The force exerted by the ice on these rigid structures was measured using a six-axis load cell. The results show that ice undergoes mixed-mode failure on the cone in the form of bending, crushing, and spalling, when tested in crushing-optimized ice. Based on the observations and results, it is recommended that model-scale experiments, focused on mixed-mode ice failure, use model ice with a representative compressive to flexural strength ratio, scaled flexural and compressive strength, and the ability to fail in brittle crushing. If these criteria cannot be met, it may be possible to combine test results from different ice sheets, each focused on one ice failure mechanism. Additionally, this study successfully used 3D-printed structures, which present a new and more accessible method of preparing scale models.
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For the design of offshore foundations in regions such as the Baltic Sea, it is paramount that ice-structure interaction is appropriately considered. For the monopile, a common foundation for offshore wind turbines, challenges with ice-induced vibrations and high ridge loads may require ice-mitigating measures to be included in the design. A ‘feasibility map’ showing the necessity for such ice-mitigating measures in the entire Baltic region has been developed for monopiles. The feasibility was considered in technical terms by imposing design, installation, and fabrication constraints, and in economic terms, expressed in weight increase of monopiles when compared to an ‘ice-free’ design. A design assessment of offshore wind turbines across the Baltic Sea was conducted by optimizing foundation designs for the IEA 15 MW reference turbine for nine identified characteristic regions of the Baltic Sea. The assessment was performed via the in-house foundation design software MORPHEUS by Wood Thilsted. MORPHEUS has been coupled to the phenomenological ice model “VANILLA” to capture the dynamic ice-structure interaction for level ice. From the assessment, the following regions are deemed feasible for monopiles without ice-mitigating measures: the Danish Straits, the Baltic Proper South, the Baltic Proper North, the Gulf of Riga and the Archipelago Sea. The Bothnian Sea North and the Bay of Bothnia are deemed infeasible without mitigating measures. For the Bothnian Sea South and the Gulf of Finland, no conclusive answer was found as more research into the cost competitiveness of alternative options is required. The increase in fatigue resulting from ice loading was found to be the main cause for foundation weight increase of monopiles compared to monopiles designed for ice-free waters. @en

Cyclic crushing experiments with a haversine velocity waveform were performed on passively confined, freshwater columnar ice specimens for a variety of velocities and frequencies. The aim of the experiments was to study the ice deformation and failure behavior in crushing when loaded at a predefined displacement pattern closely resembling the frequency lock-in regime of ice-induced vibrations. The focus of the experiments was on the development of load and ice deformation behavior at the grain and ice specimen scales during each cycle. To this end, the deformation and failure of the ice were observed with crossed-polarized light to highlight the microstructure in-situ during cyclic crushing. It was shown that there are dichotomous mechanical behaviors of the damaged and confined ice during a single crushing cycle: brittle at high velocity and non-brittle at low velocity. At low velocity, ice fracture was interrupted and stress relaxation occurred until the predefined velocity began increasing in the cycle. The stress relaxation in the load was accompanied by stress-optic effects in the ice. It was found that a load peak-velocity hysteresis developed in each crushing cycle: peak loads following the non-brittle behavior were temporarily higher than the peak loads of the brittle behavior. The temporary load peak enhancement tended to increase with increasing duration of stress relaxation, i.e. the peak enhancement tended to increase with decreasing velocity and frequency. Negligible peak enhancement and stress relaxation duration were observed for the highest frequency and mean velocity tested of 2 Hz and 10 mm s⁻¹, respectively. For tests with a minimum velocity of 1 mm s⁻¹, no stress relaxation was observed in the load measurement. Preliminary results from deviating from the haversine velocity waveform by increasing the minimum velocity showed that the stress relaxation duration decreases, but the non-brittle peak load does not decrease. It is speculated that ice anelastic ice behavior could account for the rapid stress relaxation at low velocity. It is unclear what causes the hysteresis, although it is speculated that dynamic strain aging might play a role. The change in ice behavior during the experiments demonstrates a mechanism which develops rapidly and might therefore incite the development of the frequency lock-in regime of ice-induced vibrations of vertically-sided structures.

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For offshore wind farms which are planned in sub-arctic regions like the Baltic Sea and Bohai Bay, support structure design has to account for load effects from dynamic ice-structure interaction. There is relatively high uncertainty related to dynamic ice loads as little to no load- and response data of offshore wind turbines exposed to drifting ice exists. In the present study the potential for the development of ice-induced vibrations for an offshore wind turbine on monopile foundation is experimentally investigated. The experiments aimed to reproduce at scale the interaction of an idling and operational 14 MW turbine with ice representative of 50-year return period Southern Baltic Sea conditions. A real-time hybrid test setup was used to allow the incorporation of the specific modal properties of an offshore wind turbine at the ice action point, as well as virtual wind loading. The experiments showed that all known regimes of ice-induced vibrations develop depending on the magnitude of the ice drift speed. At low speed this is intermittent crushing and at intermediate speeds is ‘frequency lock-in’ in the second global bending mode of the turbine. For high ice speeds continuous brittle crushing was found. A new finding is the development of an interaction regime with a strongly amplified non-harmonic first-mode response of the structure, combined with higher modes after moments of global ice failure. The regime develops between speeds where intermittent crushing and frequency lock-in in the second global bending mode develop. The development of this regime can be related to the specific modal properties of the wind turbine, for which the second and third global bending mode can be easily excited at the ice action point. Preliminary numerical simulations with a phenomenological ice model coupled to a full wind turbine model show that intermittent crushing and the new regime result in the largest bending moments for a large part of the support structure. Frequency lock-in and continuous brittle crushing result in significantly smaller bending moments throughout the structure.

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EU urgently needs to increase the development of secure and green energy, and this includes renewables such as Offshore wind energy. An expansion of Offshore wind will include the Baltic where sea ice is one of the major uncertainties. To ensure that the wind turbines are safe for people and the environment, while keeping them economically competitive betterguidelines and regulations should be developedcollaboratively by European industry and academia. There are unsolved challenges with respect to ice action on structures for offshore wind. However, in the current draft for Horizon Europe WorkProgramme 2023-2024 on Climate, Energy and Mobility1, the challenges related to sea ice with regards toOffshore wind energy are not mentioned. In order to meet the crucial green energy goals, it is our statement that it is imperative to include sea ice in the final version.

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A series of ice penetration tests with a rigid structure, with controlled oscillation, and with a single-degree-of-freedom structure were performed to investigate the peak load-velocity dependence for ethanol-doped model ice during a test campaign at the Aalto Ice and Wave Tank. For the rigid structure and controlled-oscillation tests, the ice drift speed ranged between 1 and 150 mm s⁻¹. In the controlled-oscillation tests, amplitudes of oscillation between 0.40 and 15.90 mm and frequencies of oscillation between 0.143 and 4 Hz were prescribed such that the relative velocity between ice and structure never became negative. A constant ice drift deceleration experiment with a single-degree-of-freedom structure was performed to investigate the development of frequency lock-in and intermittent crushing in the model ice and compare the results with the rigid structure and controlled-oscillation tests. It was found that the peak load-velocity dependence identified in the rigid structure tests was not always uniquely defined as identified in the controlled-oscillation tests because the loading history affected the peak load at ice failure. A rapid strengthening of the ice developed at low relative velocity and carried over to high relative velocity until the ice failure dissipated the strengthening effect. The strengthening effect, observed in the rigid structure and controlled-oscillation tests, was also observed during frequency lock-in and intermittent crushing in the single-degree-of-freedom structure test. The observations in the present study indicate that the so-called velocity and compliance effects in ice-structure interaction originate from the same strengthening effect. It then follows that peak loads on compliant structures cannot exceed peak loads on rigid structures in the same ice conditions, with the only difference being that the peak loads on compliant structures occur at apparently higher far-field ice drift speeds due to the change in relative velocity.

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