Proceedings of the Thirty-second (2022) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference
Shanghai, China, June 5–10, 2022
Copyright © 2022 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1-880653-81-4; ISSN 1098-6189

www.isope.org

Performance study of polar ships based on fuel consumption through the Northern Sea RouteChang Xie1,2, Li Zhou1*, Xu Zhou2, Mingfeng Lu2, Vladimir G. Tsuprik3, Alexander Bekker3
1 School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, China
2 Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd., Nantong Jiangsu, China
3 School of Engineering, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia

become more scientific. The bow form of icebreakers changed from‘White’ bow to spoon bow. Ice-breaking pattern changed from going
forward to double acting. In addition, the power changed from steam
power to electric propulsion motor, etc. For more, see Stephen (2004,2008).

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we propose an assessment method considering fuel oil
consumption (FOC) based on weighting factors, which could evaluate
the overall performance of polar ship. The brake horsepower in ice-freewater is calculated by CFD, and minimum power in level ice ispredicted by circumferential crack method. Two icebreaking hull forms
are designed to compare with the traditional hull, one with ice-breaking
bulbous bow and the other one with ice-breaking raked bow. It is foundthat ice-breaking bulbous bow is exposed to less resistance caused bycalm water and ice, and it is more suitable for self-icebreaking transport
ship through NSR in summer and autumn.

In recent decades, especially since ABB Azipod was developed andapplied to icebreakers in the early 1990s, innovative icebreakers andice-going ships have been springing up. The most importantdevelopment has undoubtedly been that Pod Propulsion was used indouble acting tankers (DAT) ‘Tempera’ and ‘Mastera’, which has asingle Azipod unit providing the propulsion force (Juurmaa et al.,2001). When operating in open water condition, the double acting
tankers with a conventional bulbous bow can keep good open waterperformance. In ice conditions, the Azipod unit is reversed, so that thepropeller extends under the level ice and the ship breaks ice goingastern (Juurmaa et al., 2002). At the same time, South Korea has alsostudied hull forms of polar ship significantly. Kim et al. (2004)
optimized the 95000DWT arctic tanker, then carried out tank test in ice
condition, and evaluated the influence of hull form on the performance.
Park et al. (2007) presented the hull form design concepts for ice
breaking tankers according to operation routes with respect to therelation between hull form parameters and ice resistance. Through thestudy of hull forms and model tests, a tanker with high ice-breakingcapability was obtained.

KEY WORDS: Polar ship; Icebreaking capability; Circumferential
crack method; Fuel consumption; Weighting Factors
NOMENCLATURE
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INTRODUCTION
With increasing development of arctic resources and opening of theNorthern Sea Route (NSR), some shipping companies prefer the NSR
gradually for economical purpose. This will lead to an increase in thenumber of ice strengthened ships, ice-going ships and icebreakers,
which are classified depending on specific missions and generalcharacteristics. Ice-strengthened ships are defined as merchant ships
which are structurally strengthened for navigation in ice-covered waters,relying mainly on icebreaker escorts in heavy ice conditions. Ice-goingships are a kind of merchant ships that do not need icebreaker escortand thus can proceed independently. Icebreakers are specialized shipsthat are intended to assist other ships in ice, which should be able tooperate in the most severe ice conditions in the operational waters.

The hull form development for ice-going ship or icebreaker begins byoutlining the operational conditions. This includes the location (whereit will operate), the time (when it will go there) and the mission (what it
does once it gets there). This will be used to establish the icebreaking
capability of the built-for-purpose vessel, for example the maximum
level ice thickness that can be broken in a continuous motion (Riska,2010). For polar ships sailing through NSR only in summer and autumn,
the open water performance cannot be neglected. A goodcomprehensive performance considering both the ice breakingcapability and open water performance is key point at initial design
stage.

Before commercialization of the Arctic shipping routes, icebreakers
have been becoming the focus of polar ship research. Since the end of
the 19th century, icebreaker development has undergone more than ahundred years. With innovative hull forms emerging, research methods

Taking these factors into consideration, this paper focuses on theanalysis of ice-breaking capability and hydrodynamic performance for1399