Effect of ice load on shell structures with infill on compressible soil is considered in this article. These structures are used as support in the construction of various coastal infrastructure projects. Local soil conditions may require the construction of these shell gravity structures on compressible foundation soils. Also such structures may be exposed to severe climatic conditions, e.g., coastal infrastructure facilities of oil and gas exploration on the shelf of the Arctic and subarctic seas.
The numerical model is proposed, which takes into account the interaction between soil environment, effect of ice load and thin shell with infill, to predict the stability and durability of shell structures under ice load. As the result of calculation analysis the necessity of cyclic loads accounting when evaluating stresses and strains in the components of "shell with infill - compressible soil" system has been shown.
Thin shell structures with infill are very rational composite hydraulic engineering structures commonly used in waterfronts and offshore as retaining walls, breakwaters, and berth foundations. They effectively combine the benefits of low-cost infill with shell material which restrains the infill, forming a massive gravity structure. The shell component can be made up of either one large circular piece (Tsimbelman et al., 2015) or of individual sheet piles installed to form the shell, i.e. cellular cofferdam (Iqbal, 2009).
In addition, the circular shell structures have been used in wide variety of applications by various industries. For instance, in mechanical and energy industry they are used for storage and transportation of various liquids, such as fuel (in the form of tank, rocket body, pipeline, and solid-propellant motor). In civil engineering, they are mainly used as massive earth retaining or bearing structures, where infill occupies considerable volume of the whole structures. The infill material can be different types of soil and/or concrete. The shell is made of a more durable material, such as concrete, steel sheet piles, steel sheet, or plastic materials.
