Paper No. ICETECH14-xxx-R0 Daley Page number: 1 Simulation of Managed Sea Ice Loads on a Floating Offshore Platform using GPU-Event Mechanics Claude Daley Memorial University St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada cdaley@mun.ca Shadi Alawneh Memorial University sga422@mun.ca Dennis Peters Memorial University dpeters@mun.ca Gary Blades Memorial University gary_blades@yahoo.com Bruce Colbourne Memorial University bruce.colbourne@mun.ca ABSTRACT The paper describes a GPU-based event mechanics (GEM) model of the action of managed pack ice on a floating offshore structure. The ice cover is represented by a large number of discrete polygonal ice floes, of varying thickness. Each ice-structure contact is modeled, as is every ice-ice contact. Time histories of total platform force (net mooring force) and platform position are presented. Ice coverage, floe sizes and thickness are varied in the simulation set. The work represents a further exploration of the possibilities of GEM technology, which was previously used to explore both resistance and local structural loads for ships transiting pack ice. The work is part of a research project at Memorial University of Newfoundland called STePS 2 (Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures). KEY WORDS: ice forces; pack ice; simulation; GPU, event- mechanics GEM INTRODUCTION The paper presents preliminary results concerning the use of GPU-event mechanics (GEM) computer technology to simulate the response of a moored drill barge to drifting pack ice, as an approximation of managed ice. The problem explored here is interaction of loose pack ice comprised of small floes drifting onto a moored platform. Figure 1 illustrates the sort of full scale situation envisaged, except that Figure 1 involves a DP drillship rather than a moored drill barge. As the broken floes drift past the platform, they will collide and rub against each other and the platform. A very large number of interactions will occur, both between the floes and to the platform. Moored drill ships have quite long horizontal plane natural periods, of the order of 90 seconds. This implies that only simulations of much longer than 90 seconds have a chance of displaying the realistic platform response to loads. The simulation results given here represent only a first step in the use of this technology. The longer term aim of the project is to permit realistic and rapid simulation of a wide range of ship- ice and ice-structure interactions and operations. The simulations presented in this paper, involving simultaneous interactions of hundreds of ice floes have been performed at computational speeds up to 6x real time.