The sea ice is idealized as an elastic-brittle material. When an ice sheet moves toward a structure, the dynamic interaction between ice and the structure is analyzed by the DDA (Discontinuous Deformation Analysis) approach, where the ice sheet and the structure, are considered as assemblages of blocky masses. This has the advantages that the whole process of collision between the ice and structure can be shown visually with a series of pictures. Meanwhile, the dynamic response of the structure at each time step after the bumping of the ice against the structure is calculated. And with the aid of inverse analysis developed by the authors, the time history of the resultant ice force exerting on the structure is evaluated. A numerical example shows that the proposed approach is suitable to the simulation of the ice-breaking process and reasonable result of ice force acting on the structure can be obtained.
