The study on effect of hull angles on ice loads

Ville Valtonen, a Naval Architect at Aker Arctic, has published a groundbreaking study on how hull shape influences  ice loads, which is crucial for the design of icebreaking vessels.

The primary goal of the study was to examine how hull shape affects ice loads and to provide data that would enable the following:

• Refine design ice loads to optimize hull structure, increase cargo capacity, and reduce costs.
• Improve icebreaking vessel design standards, including the IACS PC rules.
• Validate and enhance analytical and numerical methods for calculating ice loads.
• Reduce hull weight to decrease the environmental footprint and improve economic efficiency.
• Investigate the impact of hull angles on ice loads to develop more efficient designs.

Ville provides own insight into the study:

“The paper is based on a rather unique set of full-scale data, which covers lifetime maximum loads for the whole bow and allows analysis of the effect that hull shape has on the ice load. Compared to typical strain gauge measurements, the analysis of this paper covers the whole bow, instead of small patch(es). Moreover, during the study, analysis methodology was developed, and the line-like nature of ice loads further confirmed. The WARC detachable bow, on which the measurements were made, was built by our company in 1985 and was used to break ice on lake Saimaa until 2021.“

Ville Valtonen’s work makes a significant contribution to designing safer, more economical, and environmentally sustainable icebreaking vessels, underscoring the importance of such research for the activities and success of our company.