Sea Spray Icing: The Physical Process and Review of Prediction Models and Winterization Techniques

Ice accretion on marine vessels and offshore structures is a severe hazard in the Polar regions. There are increasing activities related to oil and gas exploration, tourism, cargo transport, and fishing in the Arctic. Ice accretion can cause vessel instability, excess load on marine structures, and represents a safety risk for outdoor working environment and operations. Freezing sea spray is the main contributor to marine icing. For safe operations in cold climates, it is essential to have verified models for the prediction of icing. Sea spray icing forecast models have improved. Empirical and theoretical models providing icing rates based may be useful as guidelines. For predicting the distribution of icing on a surface at the design stage, computational fluid dynamics has to be applied along with a freezing module. State-of-the-art models for numerical simulation of sea spray icing are still not fully capable of modeling complex ship-sea-wind interactions with spray generation and impact of shipped water. Existing models include a good understanding of spray flow effects and freezing. Further development should focus on developing models for dynamic ship-sea-wind interactions, in particular including spray generation, effects of shipped water, and distribution of icing on the vessel surface. More experimental and full-scale data are needed for the development and verification of new and improved models. Models that estimate ice distribution may improve the winterization design process and reduce the effort required for de-icing. Improved methods for de-icing and anti-icing will reduce the impact of sea spray icing and increase safety for marine operations in cold waters.