Limit state design and methodologies in ice class rules for ships and standards for Arctic offshore structures

Sea ice poses hazards to ships and offshore structures which create challenges for designers. Designers have to take into account the ice actions resulting from the various ice conditions, interactions and operational scenarios which may occur during the lifetime of structures. In this paper the methodologies used in ship and offshore structure standards, such as the Finnish Swedish Ice Class Rules, International Association of Classification Societies Polar Class rules and ISO 19906, are considered with respect to Limit State Design principles and design air temperature definitions. The paper presents an overview of the design approach used in these standards and especially the criteria for the structural limit used. Case study examples based on ship measurements in the Baltic, as well as design air temperature data from the Russian Arctic, are used to highlight the different approaches and their implementation. The analysis shows clearly that explicit design ice action and structural limit are required for the rational basis in the future development of Limit State definitions in standards accounting for ice actions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.