Ice Tank Testing of a Surface Buoy for Arctic Conditions Available to Purchase

A moored Shallow Draught Buoy (SDB) for potential operations in Arctic waters was tested during the summer of 2006 in the model laboratory basin at the Hamburg Ship Model Basin (HSVA) in Hamburg. The conceptual design of this buoy was based on the design of the Kulluk exploration vessel which operated in the Beaufort Sea in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The concept was tested in ice conditions representing level ice, multiyear ice and ridged ice, where the ice thickness, ice drift velocity and flexural strength were varied in the different test runs. Moored structures are believed to be favourable in deep waters with ice present, but there exist insufficient information and data about the actions on and behaviour of moored floating structures in ice to support this. The purpose of the present paper is to evaluate the model test results and look at the dynamic ice loading and response of the structure. The ice forces on the structure were calculated from the structure’s response and response power density spectra were used to evaluate the periodic forces and displacements. Based on the analysis of the test data, an increased understanding of the behaviour of the surface buoy is presented.