Numerical simulation of ice impacts on ship hulls in broken ice fields

Abstract

Ice loads should be considered in the design stage of the ice-going ships. The loads will be determined by the ice features present given the location, the time of year and the environmental conditions. Normally, a ship follows a sea path covered with ice broken by an ice breaker. Therefore, it is important to estimate its performance in broken ice fields. In this study, a numerical simulation of an ice going ship navigating through broken ice field was carried out using the finite element method. Ice floes with random distributions of size, thickness and shape were modeled, and an efficient numerical simulation method for ice-sea, ice-structure, and ice-ice interactions was proposed for rapid computation. Important parameters, such as the drag force coefficient and the pressure-penetration relationship in interaction modeling were obtained based on the results of detailed analysis using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian method. The simulations were conducted under the same conditions as tests carried out in an ice model basin, and the results were compared.