Interaction of Ships within Navigable Ice Channel

At intensive winter navigation, the ships should separate under movement on opposite courses or make overtaking of slowly moving cargo vessels in the water areas covered with ice. Under navigation within ice channel, possibilities for maneuvering are reduced; therefore, danger of collision of ships exists. The ice floes between vessels hulls and outside are the major factors defining values and direction of side force and yawing moment that arise on their hulls during divergence. Ice loads on the ship hull exceed considerably the loads caused by water flow around hull. Performed previously experiments in the ice basin have detected that besides increase of side force and yawing moment modules the change of side force directions occurs during the divergence of vessels in comparison with same maneuvering on water area without ice cover. Article contains the detailed problem definition and mathematical model of ships interaction during opposite passing by or overtaking and technical approach to computation of loads on vessels hulls. As example of strategy application, the simulation of loads on overtaking ship was performed, and main results of computations are presented. Outcomes of investigation are character of variation of side force and yawing moment during passage along overtaken ship and dependence of the peak values of additional ice resistance, side force and yawing moment on beam distance between vessels and thickness that are contained in the article.