Abstract: 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). Special 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.

Key words: sea ice, iceberg, local ice load, global ice load, ship hull, experiment, numerical simulation