Abstract: Global interest in the Arctic is currently increasing. Globalization and climatic changes and increasing immigration towards North increase pressure on developing new mining projects, transport routes and renewable energy resources. Demand for energy efficient and reliable ships and marine operations in the Arctic is evident.

Arctic engineering has long tradition in Finland. 60 percent of the world’s icebreakers have been built and 80% designed in Finland. The installation of an offshore wind power pilot site starts in Finland in the summer 2017. This will be the world’s first offshore array in water that is ice-covered for a part of the year.

Ice is an exceptional material. Its behavior under interaction with structures leads to great challenges in quantifying the actions exerted on a structures. In this presentation, I will outline challenges from the viewpoint of ice engineering and research of ice mechanics. The scope is in fixed offshore structures and ships. Beside the engineering challenges, the talk will shortly describe challenges and achievements in the numerical modelling of the failure of ice.

Bio: Kari Kolari received his PhD from the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland in the Strength of Materials. He is a Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. He has been conducting research in nonlinear stability and optimization of thin walled steel structures and modelling of high temperature creep.

Recently he has focused on ice-structure interaction, forces exerted on marine structures and ships as well as ice induced vibration of structures. He specializes in the numerical simulation and especially in the modelling of the failure and fragmentation of brittle-like materials. He is active member of national and international committees and associations related to strength of materials and ice research. He is also active flamenco guitarist and Nordic skater.