The unsteady motion of amphibian air-cushion vehicles (ACV) over water covered with continuous ice is considered. The ice sheet is simulated by an elastic ice plate. The depth of water depends on x coordinate, where x direction coincides with the direction of the vehicle motion. An analysis is made of the effect of the vehicle length, vehicle velocity, ice plate thickness, and the variable depth of a basin on the wave resistance of the ACV.
Working out of coastal and shelf areas under freezing seashore sea conditions is connected with the problem of making shallow water constructions free from ice. The amphibian air-cushion vehicles (ACV) are the most suitable to solve the problem. Their great maneuverability, super passability and independence on the depth of the basin let us apply them under the conditions where big icebreakers are useless. It is known that the flexural gravity waves occurring during the ACV motion reach their maximum amplitudes at critical velocities of the vehicle motion and under certain conditions destroy the ice cover. However, traditionally the theoretical researches of moving loads on ice plates (Squire et al, 1996) were limited by constant depth of basin. We note that the effect of the bottom topography has recently been investigated in the linear problem of the scattering of periodic surface waves by a floating elastic plate (Wang and Meylan, 2002; Sun et al, 2003; and Kyoung et al, 2005) on the assumption that the liquid flow and the plate deformation are periodic functions of time. Sturova (2008) investigated the behaviour of the plate for different actions and shapes of bottom irregularities. She analyzed the plate deflection and showed that the bottom topography can have a considerable effect on the deformation of the plate. The ship motion over sloping bottom has been considered by Buchner (2006), Ferreira and Newman (2008). Kim et al (2010) considered the motion of floating barge and a LNG carrier in sloping bottom.
