Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2016)

training & education : model testing & simulation

Station-Keeping in Ice freedom system is used to track the posi- boat is moving through the ice,” explains numerical ice model will then be tested

After consulting with subject mat- tion and orientation of the model. NRC Millan. “According to how it’s pressured on NRC OCRE’s DP system. Once posi- ter experts from oil and gas com-

OCRE’s in-house DP system is used to by the ice, there’s a response—a pushing tive results are obtained regarding how panies and other organizations/ maintain station, and record forces and back by the thrusters.” Successive calcu- the vessel responds in an ice ? eld, that institutions with Arctic expertise, moments. A camera is mounted over the lations produce realistic ice-loading in- will validate that the integration of the the Center for Arctic Resource De- bow with the purpose of observing ice- formation, based on data collected from numerical ice model and DP system is velopment (CARD) in St. John’s ice and ice-hull interaction. There are the real-world tests. working well. The next step will then be completed its Arctic Development three azimuthing podded propellers fore, The plan is for the OCRE team to send to integrate this into a commercial DP

Roadmap in 2012. and three aft. Since a wireless network is this data to the CMS team, who will rep- Control System, which is where Kongs-

The purpose of the Roadmap was connected to the model, there is no need resent the scienti? c information visually. berg Maritime comes in.

“to identify, organize and prioritize for a tether. Each piece of ice is speci? ed accord- By the end of the project, “we hope to key research and development is-

The ice produced in the tank—equiva- ing to type, shape (number of vertices), have a prototype,” says Halfyard. “There sues that need to be addressed to ? ll lent to ? rst-year ice—was cut from a thickness, and location. The informa- are people who are skeptical because ice gaps in the knowledge, technology, sheet into ¼-metre ? oes. Over the ensu- tion transferred to CMS will include ice is so unpredictable. They’re saying, ‘Can methodology and training associ- ing days, as a result of the impacts, vari- ? eld, ship, wave, and wind scenarios, you really build a numerical ice model ated with offshore Arctic oil and gas ations in size and thickness developed, and force interaction components. The that is realistic for the type of ice con- development.” reports David Millan, OCRE System embedded complexity of shapes and so- ditions that we get? I keep telling them,

The oil and gas companies that

Engineer and NRC Project Manager, at phisticated rendering methods used by ‘Just think outside the box.’ Let’s push were consulted for the CARD which point the tank more closely re- CMS will result in a very high ? delity past what we know, and create some-

Roadmap included Exxon Mobil, sembled a real-world managed ice ? eld. look and feel to the simulation. thing innovative. We can be the group

Suncor, Husky Energy, Statoil,

The ice thickness ranged from 15 milli- To create the visualization, the ap- that develops this new technology.”

Chevron, Imperial Oil, Shell, and metres to 32 millimetres to 50 millime- propriate visual representation will be Evolving the prototype into a com-

Conoco Phillips. Among the needs tres. Millan’s team conducted almost 40 wrapped around the ice geometry. The mercially available product will extend that were identi? ed as high prior- days of testing, ? nishing up in March CMS team will then display the 3D well beyond the life of the project, says ity was station-keeping in ice using 2015. They used 17 full-tank ice sheets, scienti? cally-based real-time visualiza- Halfyard. The objective of this project is either mooring or dynamic posi- and made 372 model test runs (three runs tions on three 55-inch screens, arranged to develop a proof of concept that can tioning. The limiting case used for per length of the tank), which yielded side-by-side with an angle between them be commercialized by a DP manufac- design was station-keeping during terabytes of data. representing a 150-degree horizontal turer. “It will likely take years to bring emergency response, which pointed

Software engineers reformat the data view. A fourth screen will enable walk- to market, as signi? cant full-scale test- to the need for “improved ice load to provide ice type and ice ? eld charac- ing around different areas of the vessel ing would need to occur,” Halfyard ob- models (and full-scale data) for teristics, which is then fed into one of and changing one’s point of view. (This serves. “But then again, innovation takes ? oating platforms to guide the de- three algorithms that focus on collisions, is the screen set-up that CMS instruc- time and patience.” sign of station-keeping systems.” loading, and the motion of the ice. “The tors currently use for DP training.). The

A Rude Awakening “When I ? rst went to the Arctic

Model moving through complex ice ? eld. A model scale 100-m ? oe is next to the vessel. in the early ‘90s, the statistics said there was a very small chance that there would be a vast ice ? oe,” re- calls David Millan, who was work- ing for NORDCO of St. John’s as the Engineering Project Lead. His mission was to collect and analyze data on a brand new digital radar system on board a 1,000-foot long icebreaking cargo ship (now “MV

Arctic”). He climbed aboard in Ant- werp and was heading for Nanisivik on Baf? n Island. While travelling at 6 knots, the ship came to an abrupt halt. It had hit a massive ice ? oe. “It practically threw people off their feet,” Millan recalls. “We waited three days for the Canadian Coast

Guard’s Sir John A. MacDonald to break us free. On the same trip heading south to North Sydney, the

Arctic encountered 17-meter seas close to the ice edge.” One of the hulls cracked on the next voyage, which Millan ? gures was probably due to the impact and massive seas.

Ever since, Millan has been aware of the need for superior ice detection capability and technology solutions that can make Arctic voyages safer. (Photo: National Research Council of Canada) 36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MARCH 2016

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