A Simplified Method of Iceberg Hydrodynamic Parameter Prediction
Dmitry Nikushchenko,
Anton Stepin,
Ekaterina Nikitina,
Nikita Tryaskin,
Alexander Makovsky,
Konstantin Kornishin,
Yaroslav Efimov
Affiliations
Dmitry Nikushchenko
Institute of Hydrodynamics and Control Processes, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Lotsmanskaya St., 3, 190121 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Anton Stepin
Institute of Hydrodynamics and Control Processes, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Lotsmanskaya St., 3, 190121 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Ekaterina Nikitina
Institute of Hydrodynamics and Control Processes, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Lotsmanskaya St., 3, 190121 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Nikita Tryaskin
Laboratory of Applied Hydrodynamics, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Lotsmanskaya St., 3, 190121 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Alexander Makovsky
Laboratory of Applied Hydrodynamics, Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Lotsmanskaya St., 3, 190121 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Konstantin Kornishin
Department of Offshore Oil and Gas Field Development, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), 65, Leninsky Prospect, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Yaroslav Efimov
Department of Offshore Oil and Gas Field Development, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), 65, Leninsky Prospect, 119991 Moscow, Russia
The present article is devoted to the safe operation of oil platforms in difficult ice conditions. To ensure the safety of offshore facilities, it is essential to deviate a drifting iceberg’s trajectory that may lead to an emergency with the help of available technological means. To reliably predict the behaviour of icebergs when they are towed or deviate from their previous course, it is necessary to determine the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic characteristics of the iceberg. This paper proposes a simplified method for determining the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic characteristics of an iceberg. Key concept of the proposed approach include replacing the iceberg waterline with an equivalent ellipse. This diminishes and then shifts the hydrodynamic characteristic determination of the iceberg’s underwater section to determining the resistance of a three axial ellipsoid or elliptical cylinder depending on the shape of the iceberg’s underwater section. The hydrodynamic characteristics of several real icebergs determined by the proposed method are compared with the results of their numerical simulation using the CFD approach. The proposed approach provides a quick assessment of the hydrodynamic characteristics of icebergs when information on its underwater section is unreliable, inconsistent or absent.
