Dataset of Drop-Tower Experiments with Various Ice Shapes Impacting a Rigid Structure

Understanding how various ice shapes affect loads experienced by a ship hull or structure is crucial. Therefore, ice-structure interaction with a focus on the shape of the impacting ice was investigated. In the study drop tower experiments were conducted at the Institute of Ship Structural Design and Analysis of the Hamburg University of Technology to investigate ice impacts on a small scale. Ice specimens with diverse shapes (cylinder, cone, dome, wedge, ellipse, and other variations) were subjected to single impacts against a steel plate. Analysis revealed two main failure modes based on ice geometry, showcasing significant differences in load magnitude. Correlations between contact area, cone angle, specimen length to peak force, pressure, and energy were observed. The experimental setup, test matrix including the dimensions of the tested ice shapes and the data analysis are soon to be published.

The experimental data are provided here. The data include the summed up force signal of the load cells and the displacement signal of the drop hammer. The data have been cropped to focus on the relevant portion around the impact load peak. Each file contains a single test run encompassing the time signal in seconds, force signal in kilo Newtons, and displacement signal in millimeters.