Feasibility Study of an Unmanned Floating Moored Buoy Located in the Svalbard Archipelago for Monitoring of Ice Induced Responses and Ice Conditions Simultaneously

摘要

This paper describes the results from a concept study performed with the objectives to investigate the technical feasibility and cost of installing a permanently floating moored unmanned meso-scale buoy in the Svalbard archipelago area, for the purpose of monitoring ice conditions and floater responses simultaneously. The objective of such test is to establish a correlation for a floating moored platform under real ice conditions, as compared to ice model testing and analytical/numerical predictions of platform responses during interaction with different sea ice features. A floating meso-scale buoy and mooring system was designed for 80 m water depth and interaction with first-year level ice. Different locations in the Svalbard archipelago were evaluated as potential sites based on the available literature on ice, metocean and soil conditions including interviews performed with the different local governmental and private institutions with operational experience from the area. The feasibility and method of buoy fabrication and marine operations from transport of the buoy from the yard to the selected site and installation of the mooring system were investigated. Different monitoring packages were investigated with respect to monitoring of both buoy responses and ice conditions. This paper presents the results from the study performed including a presentation of the buoy design, proposed location and the chosen solution for the monitoring package.