ABSTRACT
The environmental contour method is an established method for design of ships and marine structures. In this method, environmental contours for a given return period are developed in order to identify the environmental conditions which are associated with the most critical structural responses, and then the long-term extreme response for the same return period can be effectively estimated based on the response statistics of the most critical (short-term) responses. In this work, the environmental contour method is described for design of ice-capable vessels in Arctic regions. In particular, for vessels sailing in Arctic regions, the most dangerous condition is associated with ice ridges. Based on the probability distributions of key parameters of the first-year ice ridges which determine the ice ridge loads, the environmental contours are developed. The effects of the correlation between different environmental variables are discussed. A simple case is proposed to illustrate application of the environmental contour method for design of ice-capable vessels.
