The response of a floating ice sheet to an accelerating line load

The two-dimensional response of a thin, floating sheet of ice to a line load that accelerates from rest at t = 0 to a uniform velocity V for t >= T is determined through an integral-transform solution of the linearized equations of motion. If T = 0 – i.e. if the load is impulsively started with velocity V – the solution exhibits singularities at V = c_0, the shallow-water-gravitywave speed, and V = c_(min), the minimum speed for transverse motion of the ice, but these singularities are avoided by the acceleration of the load through the critical speeds.