The Arctic is a land of unique challenges, particularly for any company trying to do business there.

At Memorial University, Claude Daley, along with his engineering faculty colleague Bruce Colbourne, is attempting to help companies better address the Arctic’s unique attributes. The two engineering professors are behind the Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures (STePS2) project. The nearly six-year project, which ends this year, is developing tools to ensure safer design and assessment of the ships and offshore structures used in Arctic conditions.

Among the topics the STePS2 project has examined: the ability of structures to withstand ice load. According to Daley, the project has made a number of significant findings in that field, including practical methods for engineers to model ice loads.
“Through a combination of experimental and numerical research, STePS2 is laying the groundwork for a new generation of design and assessment tools for use in Arctic offshore engineering,” Daley says.

The project has been funded with a total of $5.5 million, of which $1.25 million was derived from industry players such as Husky Energy, Samsung and Rolls-Royce.

The goal, Daley says, is to help companies develop their Arctic operations. “Such businesses have the potential to add trillions of dollars to Canadian GDP as a result of Arctic successes,” he says.