In this paper, an updated Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method based on the Simplified Finite Difference Interpolation scheme (SPH_SFDI) is presented to simulate the failure process of ice. The Drucker–Prager model is embedded into the SPH code to simulate the four point bending and uniaxial compression failure of ice. The cohesion softening elastic–plastic model is also used in the SPH_SFDI framework. To validate the proposed modeling approach, the numerical results of SPH_SFDI are compared with the standard SPH and the experimental data. The good agreement demonstrated that the proposed SPH_SFDI method including the elastic–plastic cohesion softening Drucker–Prager failure model can provide a useful numerical tool for simulating failure progress of the ice in practical field. It is also shown that the SPH_SFDI can significantly improve the capability and accuracy for simulating ice bending and compression failures as compared with the original SPH scheme.

The structural safety of polar ships is critically dependent on local ice loads acting in the ship–ice interaction area. Ice conditions and ship speeds play dominant roles in influencing local ice loads. Field measurement serves as a crucial approach for accurately assessing and scientifically understanding local ice loads and ice conditions. The instrumentation for the field measurement on RV Xuelong-2 is discussed in this study. In the 12th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, digital processing technologies are employed for image recognition and statistical analysis of ice concentrations and thicknesses. The influence coefficient matrix method is validated by a physical experiment and applied to identify local ice loads from ice-induced strains. Subsequently, the relationship between local ice loads, ice conditions, and ship speeds is statistically analyzed and mechanistically explained. The results show that the coupling effect between ship speeds and ice parameters, along with the competition between ice failure modes, may cause ice load peaks to transition from increasing to decreasing at a specific ship speed and ice thickness. A prolonged ice load duration under high ice concentrations is an important factor contributing to the positive correlation between ice load peaks and ice concentrations.