For ship structural design and good maneuverability in an ice-covered sea, the local and global load of ice cover on ships should be well understood. This paper reviews the extensive work done on ice loads on ships, including： （a） Ice pressure and local load determination based on field and model tests; （b） Global ice loads on ships from full-scale field observations, model tests and numerical models under different ice conditions （level ice and pack ice） and ship operations （maneuvering and mooring）. Spe- cial attention is paid to the discrete element simulation of global ice loads on ships; and （c） Analytical solutions and numerical models of impact loads of icebergs on ships for polar navigation. Finally, research potential in these areas is discussed.
Granular matter possesses impact-absorbing property due to its energy dissipation character.To investigate the impact-absorbing capacity of granular matter,the discrete element method(DEM)is adopted to simulate the impact of a spherical projectile on to a granular bed.The dynamic responses of the projectile are obtained for both thin and thick granular bed.The penetration depth of the projectile and the first impact peak are investigated with different bed thicknesses and impact velocities.Determining a suitable bed thickness is crucial to the buffering effect of granular matter.The first impact peak is independent of bed thickness when the thickness is larger than the critical thickness.
