Wave Drift Force on Ice Floe

Abstract

The mean wave drift force on a vertical axisymmetric ice floe in regular waves is computed using available computation methods for linear wave diffraction and radiation by a floating rigid body. The computed results for a fixed vertical cylinder are shown to be in good agreement with the corresponding analytical solution. The computed wave drift force on a rigid cylindrical ice floe, with a 20‐m diameter, is compared with the previous two‐dimensional result obtained, assuming that the ice is a thin elastic raft with a 20‐m width. The comparison indicates that the normalized wave drift force is dependent on the size of the floe relative to the wavelength and rather insensitive to the different assumptions made in these two analyses. Furthermore, the computed wave drift forces on the ice floes investigated during previous field studies suggest that the wave drift force will be important in the ice floe force balance associated with the horizontal floe movement if the surface waves in partially ice‐covered water are not negligible.