Ice Loads on Vertical Bridge Pier at Two Different Model Scales

Abstract

Physical model tests in ice are performed at two different model scales with a tender design bridge pier for the Great Belt West Bridge in Denmark. The 6.6‐km‐long West Bridge constitutes the western part of the 18‐km‐long Great Belt link connecting Denmark's two main islands, Zealand and Funen. The investigated pier has two vertical cylindrical shafts penetrating the ice level. A comparison of tests at scale 1:14.76 carried out at Hamburgische Schiffbau Versuchsanstalt (HSVA), in Hamburg, Germany, to tests at scale 1:30 at the Hydraulics Laboratory of the National Research Council (NRC), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, lends support to the use of Froude's model law for ice loads on vertical structures. The removal of loads due to structural oscillations from the recorded force time series is necessary to obtain comparability between data sets, and it has a substantial effect on conclusions regarding scaling. Once proper processing to remove loads from structural oscillations is completed, the test series from the different laboratories compare favorably. This gives confidence in the ability of different ice laboratories to reproduce each other's results.