Analytical Model of Navigable Channel Evolution in Ice Conditions

摘要

Ship traffic via navigable freezing ice channels causes a gradual accumulation of small ice floes mixed with water, known as brash ice. The thickness of the brash ice layer may reach the values when ship navigation becomes difficult or even impossible. This paper introduces a computational model intended to predict ice channel evolution in winter. The model considers the thermodynamics of the ice-growing process and allows the estimation of the parameters of the cross-section of the ice channel depending on the number of freezing degree-days and the schedule of ship passages. Unlike existing models, the described scheme of channel evolution takes into account that some brash ice is pushed beneath ice channel edges by passing vessels, and therefore the obtained cross-section profile is similar to that observed in full-scale conditions.