| Summary: | Brash ice occurs due to frequent navigation in ice-infested waters, typically along established navigation tracks regularly maintained by icebreakers and harbors. The accumulation and consolidation of brash ice between two ship passages are influenced by meteorological factors including the cumulative freezing air temperatures, and the mechanical processes such as ice-breaking due to ship passages. Brash ice's physical and thermodynamic properties also significantly influence the accumulation process. Brash ice formation and growth can occur rapidly, and the accumulations pose hazards to shipping operations. Vessels lacking ice-breaking capabilities often need assistance from icebreakers, resulting in heightened operational costs, greater fuel consumption, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Navigation in icy waters relies on operational strategies that can be enhanced and guided by reliable forecast models. Accurate prediction of brash ice growth in Subarctic and Arctic regions is crucial for port and ship design. However, our understanding of brash ice development remains incomplete, and existing brash ice models can be improved and validated through the integration of full-scale data. Moreover, there has been limited research into the physical and mechanical properties of brash ice. Full-scale results are invaluable for both model-scale studies and developers seeking to estimate ship performance in brash ice conditions. This thesis presents the study of various parameters affecting brash ice formation and is validated by data from three full-scale brash ice channels and two harbors situated in the Bay of Bothnia, Luleå, Sweden. The primary objective was to assess the impact of snow on brash ice formation and growth. To begin with, laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to study the simultaneous growth of water and slush under identical meteorological conditions. Concurrently with the laboratory-scale experiments, the growth of brash ice in three full-scale channels and the growth of level ice ...
|
|---|