IUTAM-IAHR Symposium on Ice-Structure Interaction Professor Bez Tabarrok, Chairman of the Canadian National Committee (CNC) of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) invited Professor Derek Muggeridge to organize a symposium on ice structure interaction. Dr. Muggeridge readily agreed and prepared a proposal that was endorsed by the CNC and presented to the General Assembly Meeting of IUTAM for their consideration. This Assembly gave its approval and provided the local organizing committee with the names of individuals who were willing to serve on the Scientific Committee. Dr. Muggeridge became chairman of this committee and Dr. Ian Jordaan became co-chairman of this committee as well as chairman of the local organizing committee. The symposium followed the very successful previous meeting, chaired by Professor P. Tryde in Copenhagen, by ten years. Both symposia uti lized Springer-Verlag to publish their proceedings. The Faculty of En gineering and Applied Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland were particul{lXly pleased to host this prestigious symposium as it marked the twentieth anniversary of its Ocean Engineering Research Centre.

Probabilistic models were developed for the estimation of global and local ice for fixed marine structures. The model produced load descriptions which are compatible with probability-based design code requirements. Ice loading is estimated by using probabilistic environmental inputs in appropriate ice-structure interaction models to produce a probabilistic distribution of the load. This is then used in extremal models to calculate the probability distribution of the maximum annual load or pressure. The study included the statistical analysis of environmental data and ice mechanical properties. Ice-structure interaction models were selected from available approaches and new models were developed around ice feature collisions in open water and winter conditions, including stochastic process models for different ice load scenarios, for the exposure levels of the structure to a given scenario, and for estimating the load magnitude during each interaction event. Extremal models for the discrete Poisson process and for stationary continuous processes were also used.

For students and professionals, this covers theory and methods for stochastic modelling and analysis of marine structures under environmental loads.

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the U.S.-Austria Joint Seminar on Stochastic Structural Mechanics held on May 4 and 5, 1987. The general theme of the two-day program was the applications of probability and statistics to structural mechanics. Within this general theme a great variety of subject matters were covered, ranging from analytical and computational algorithms to specific problems in different branches of engineering. The format of the bi-national seminar with limited attendance permitted ample time for presentation and discussion. The discussion was als6 contributed by several participants of another bi-national seminar, the U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar on Stochastic Approaches in Earthquake Engineering, which followed immediately on May 6 and 7, 1987. The scheduling of the two seminars back-to-back enhanced greatly the exchange among the experts in engineering stochastics from the three nations. The Joint Seminar was organized according to the U.S.-Austria Cooperative Science Program established in 1984. We are indebted to the following government agencies and organizations for financial assistance, including the National Science Foundation, and the Florida Atlantic University Foundation in the United States, and Fonds zur Forderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Land Tirol, Bundeswirtschaftskammer, Bundesministerium flir Wissenschaft und Forschung, and Osterreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft in Austria. Most credits, however, must be accorded to each of the authors whose contributions were the very basis of any success we might be able to claim. Our special thanks are due to Mrs.