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(All photos by James Evans, Chief of Photography and Videography, University of Alaska Anchorage)

Anchorage鈥檚 Ted Stevens International Airport is one of the . Could the become similar for seaports? It鈥檚 possible, as 鈥� an Arctic sea route through Alaska and Canada 鈥� looks increasingly practical due to melting ice caused by climate change.

Anticipating this increase in northern shipping, 暗网视频professor of structural engineering Scott Hamel, P.E., Ph.D., began researching the determination of ice crushing forces on vertical piles with tidal-accreted ice, which was one of seven 暗网视频research projects selected for the 2020 ConocoPhillips Arctic Science and Engineering Endowment Awards.

Dr. Hamel鈥檚 research is focused on how accreted ice 鈥� ice buildup between piles of seaports and oil platforms 鈥� can act as a wall, greatly increasing the force from incoming floating ice.

鈥淚f we know the accreted ice is weaker than the ice floe, the accreted ice will break off and we can reduce the pile size because the pile will 鈥榣ook鈥� smaller to the incoming surface ice,鈥� said Jasmine Langmann, a 暗网视频civil engineering alumna working under Dr. Hamel for her master鈥檚 thesis. 鈥淕enerally you overdesign because you want a factor of safety. But if we're significantly overdesigning things 鈥� we can build bridges so perfect they鈥檙e never going to fail, but it's going to be so exponentially expensive and there's always a budget.鈥�

To compare the shear strength of accreted ice versus the compressive strength of ice floes, Langmann runs 8-inch cylindrical cores of accreted ice through compression tests and sheared rectangular ice beams. She compares this to the strength of floating sea ice from previous research. Samples were drilled from the Port of Alaska. Variables taken into account in the calculations include the amount of sediment in the ice, its elevation on the pile and its exposure to the sun.

In the future, it鈥檚 possible that accreted ice may be counted on to break away, allowing the floating ice to pass between the piles. Currently, piles are designed to withstand 300 psi (pounds per square inch) of pressure acting over the entire accreted width, up to 10 feet. This could be reduced to just the width of the pile. That overdesign represents millions of dollars more effectively spent elsewhere.

For now, Langmann鈥檚 findings for Dr. Hamel鈥檚 research could prove to be foundational. As interest piques and work begins on utilizing Arctic sea routes 鈥� such as 鈥� research on accreted ice is just warming up.

鈥淚t's really important to continue to better understand the world around us and how it's changing,鈥� said Langmann. 鈥淩ight now there鈥檚 not a ton of information on accreted ice, so it鈥檚 kind of cool thinking that somebody might reference my thesis in their search for knowledge.鈥�