ICEBERG TOWING EXPERIMENT IN THE BARENTS SEA

摘要

The towing of a bergy bit was undertaken during springtime of 2004 within the framework of a field study conducted by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute under contract with Sevmorneftegaz. The estimated mass of this ice feature was 15,450 metric tons. The bergy bit was surrounded by new ice. A marine vessel employed as a tugboat for the referred experiment was the "Mikhail Somov" of 11,100 metric tons displacement providing bollard pull up to 667 kN (68 metric tons) at maximum shaft power equal to 6,400 hp. The experiment included pushing the bergy bit and synthetic line towing with speed up to 2.3 knots. The subsequent measurement data analysis was mainly aimed at calculation of the tow-rope pull (equal to total resistance of the bergy bit motion) via calculation of the net propeller thrust versus vessel speed. Best-fit regression of the bergy bit resistance on its speed was a power function with an exponent equal to 1.4 and 0.72 drag coefficient.