Optimization-based material parameter identification for the numerical simulation of sea ice in four-point bending

The bending strength of the sea ice cover is crucial in the design of ice-going vessels. Therefore, a series of in situ four-point bending tests have been performed earlier, which are now utilized to present a particle swarm optimization–based procedure to identify the material parameters needed for numerical simulations. The resulting numerical simulations are found to comply well with the experimental results in terms of force, failure time, and displacement. Therefore, it can be concluded that the presented optimization-based material parameter identification procedure can also be used in the future if similar material parameters are to be found.