ICE PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS WITH TEKSCAN SENSORS - BEHAVIOUR, CALIBRATION AND APPLICATION LIMITS

Kurzfassung

Ships and offshore structures operating in ice-covered sea areas have to withstand ice loads. In particular, the distribution of ice pressure in the contact area is critical. The pressure distribution changes temporally and spatially and depends on the ice failure behaviour. Experimental measurements of ice pressures are possible with pressure mapping systems. A commonly used system in academia uses sensors manufactured by TekScan. The resulting measurements can be used to gain insight into ice failure behaviour, to establish design pressure patches, and to develop numerical models. However, various issues emerge when using these pressure measurement systems, e.g., equilibration and calibration, which result in measurement uncertainties. Hence, this paper summarize and discuss possible issues and gives recommendations to address them.