An Assessment of Iceberg Loads for Operations in the North Barents Sea

With increasing demand for oil, drilling operations are soon going to start in the North Barents Sea. This area experiences iceberg occurrences. A systematic mapping of iceberg needs to be done to keep a tab on the iceberg location. Also, a study is required to assess the loads that come on to the mooring system in case of an iceberg – floater interaction. Therefore, this paper seeks to create a systematic mapping procedure for the occurrence of icebergs in the North Barents Sea using MATLAB. Further, from information on iceberg attributes and drift speed, the paper computes the iceberg mass and energy to define a probability density function of encountering an iceberg of a particular size. A scenario of an iceberg-floater interaction has been studied for different contact area geometries based on the kinetic energy model. Forces that develop on the mooring lines of a floater have been computed to aid in the designing of the mooring system of structures operating in the region fraught with the dangers of floating icebergs like the North Barents Sea.