The influence of the bow design on structural response due to ice loading

ABSTRACTThe optimum bow shape for an ice-going vessel in ice conditions is different to open water conditions and research about the influence of the bow shape on the structural response due to ice loading and resistance is required. A framework is developed to study the functional relationship between the bow shape and the structural response for ice-going bows in MATLAB. The structural dimensions are optimised by an automatic link to a parametric finite element model in ANSYS Mechanical. Both the buttock angle and the average waterline angle should be as small as possible to reduce the channel ice resistance. When changing the bow shape angles along an iso-resistance curve, the design pressure is constant and thus the structural response according to the DNVGL rules. It is found that the maximum stress in plates of the bow increases by reducing the average waterline angle while keeping the structural design constant.