The study addressed the reliability of concrete as a valid construction material for Arctic structures. The focus will be on problems of structural deterioration caused by the loss of durability due to environmental effects, variation in material properties due to extreme temperature, and to abrasive damages or large concentrated stresses due to sea ice.
The objective was to assess the engineering properties of subsea permafrost and their influence on bottom- founded structures. Four basic areas of study are proposed:
(1) a study of the effect of freezing and thawing on the salinity of subsea permafrost soils;
(2) a study of the strength properties of saline permafrost;
(3) a study of the consolidation and permeability characteristics of subsea permafrost; and
(4) a study of the effect of cyclic loading on the strength of subsea permafrost.
The objective was to develop and evaluate the response of a stiff biaxial stress sensor in ice and permafrost under different loading conditions. Recommendations will be made on future designs and uses of the sensor in materials exhibiting time dependant mechanical properties. The sensor has a low thermal sensitivity and is not affected by differential thermal expansion between ice and gauge or ice creep. To provide a means for reliable, inexpensive ice stress measurements which are needed to understand ice related problems.
To determine the lateral forces generated by moving sea ice on artificial islands and offshore structures. This focuses on exploration and development operations in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas. The approach is to measure the effective ice stress at relatively long distances from such islands, to measure the ice displacement simultaneously and to determine the effective island width or structure width during ridge building events.
Conduct a comprehensive review of the research and development programs aimed at Arctic undersea structures inspection and the types of NDE equipment necessary for present and future undersea structures inspection.
The Minerals Management Service is one of eight participants in a comprehensive ice mechanics study at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). Shell Development is the lead participant, the others are oil companies. This is a theoretical and experimental program to determine the stress-strain relations and failure criteria for multi-year sea ice.
The objective was to study the potentially hazardous effects of Arctic (cold weather) operations on the integrity of steel weldments for Arctic structures. Fracture toughness of steel weldments are being investigated to determine requirements for verifying structural integrity.
Assess the status of technology and identify needed research and development for outer continental shelf operations in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean.
The objective of this proof-of-concept study is to develop and test methods to directly measure the volume of oil burned and the burn rate in real time during in-situ burns (ISB) by integrating the direct thickness measurements using acoustic methods and surface area measurements derived from visible and infrared images.
The project will consist of the following overall tasks:
This project evaluated three novel approaches to herding oil including the use of sawdust treated with hydrophobic/oleophilic agents, the use of sawdust treated with hydrophobic/oleophilic agents and bioremediation agents, the and modification of commercially available sorbent products.
