Modelling ice rubble–rock berm interaction

Rock berms are being used to protect seabed infrastructure, such as pipelines, from grounding ice rubble features. Typical rock berms may be damaged under shear by a first-year grounded ice rubble keel. A series of physical model tests in a geotechnical centrifuge has indicated that such damage occurs under loads less than those typical of actual design conditions. These tests have both reproduced failures of the rock berm and identified failure criteria for the ice rubble.