Model Tests On Ice Scour Events Under Various Conditions

Abstract

Ice Scour (Ice Gouge) is a phenomenon that occurs when ice comes into contact withseabed. Ice gouge has been reported to have caused damage to communication cables and water intake pipelines. Since oil and natural gas exploration projects in offshore areas of arctic seas are becoming popular, more care must be taken over the design and installation of oil pipelines in such areas in order to avoid accidents due to ice scour. It will be very important to acknowledge mechanisms (ice motions, sub-seabed conditions on gouge events). In addition to our previous tests (Kioka and Saeki, 2000), we have performed many series of model tests under various conditions. We revealed relationships between pore water pressure in the sand and bulldozing force due to velocity of the model keel, and we also prospected depression of model keel during scour events.