DYPIC - Dynamic Positioning in Ice: First Phase of Model Testing

DYPIC (Dynamic Positioning in Ice) is a research and development project within the MARTEC ERA-NET project of the European Union. Its objective is to contribute to the closure of the gap between DP in open water being an industry standard, and DP in ice which has some extra challenges to tackle.Two phases of model testing in ice form the back bone of the project and are facilitated by HSVA (Hamburg Ship Model Basin, Germany). The first test phase, which was executed from May to July 2011, involved two different model ships. Both were tested in free floating mode (where the model sailed solely by its own propulsion system) and fixed mode (where the model was connected to a carriage). In the free floating mode the controlling was performed by a prototype DP system scaled to model parameters.Four different managed ice fields with systematically varied ice concentration and ice floe size were prepared in the ice tank in order to investigate the influence of the relevant parameters. Tests were executed for several velocities and headings with respect to the approaching ice floes.In the free floating case ice loads on the hull were derived from the measured loads on the thrusters. The behavior of the model ship was captured by the position and heading tracking system Qualisys and several installed video cameras. The fixed mode tests serve well as a reference measurement.The results will be used to develop a model scale DP system for ice that is adjustable to different kinds of vessels and ice conditions and eventually to develop testing procedures for the assessment of the DP performance of a vessel in managed ice. A second phase of model testing for fine tuning and benchmarking the developed system will be carried out in August 2012.Within the scope of the paper is the description of the performed tests speaking of test setup and ice conditions. Analyses of results are not covered.Copyright © 2012 by ASME