Design Requirements for Future NSR Ships

(By  L.G. Tsoy, S.B. Karavanov, Yu.V. Glebko, F.A. Moreinis, N.A. Vyssotskaya, S.M. Ponomarev ; INSROP Working Paper No. 160 – 1999, I.1.4)

The objective of this Project was to elaborate design requirements to future ships for the Northern Sea Route (NSR) based on the research and investigation of the experience of the design, construction and operation of domestic arctic ships. Safety of the ice navigation in the Arctic, operational and economic efficiency of new types of ships provided for by different scenarios of the prospective cargo traffic on the NSR will to a considerable degree depend on the right choice of their dimensions, power, icebreaking capability as well as on the relation between sizes and ice performance both of cargo ships and icebreakers carrying out the escorting of ships through ice.

In the process of realization of the project, problems concerning the design of modern icebreaking cargo ships and icebreakers were considered and summarized, the experience of their operation studied, statistical data on the ice damageability of hull structures depending on the conditions of navigation and tactics of work collected and analysed. With the help of the systematic simulation and full-scale tests the investigations were made of the influence of dimensions and hull shape of icebreaking cargo ships on the ice performance and seaworthiness. The effect of the shallow water on the ice performance of prospective ice superships was estimated. The required icebreaking capability of these ships taking into account the area and period of their use in the Arctic was determined.

For the subsequent simulation of the transportation by ships of raw materials from the Arctic and the transit navigation along the NSR, dimensional series of large arctic tankers, gas carriers, bulkers and container ships were developed. Accordingly design studies of new types of icebreakers for the escorting of these ships were carried out.

On the basis of the investigations made, technical and operational requirements to main characteristics, construction and ice performance of future ships for the NSR have been prepared and recommendations on the choice of an ice class and a rational hull lines shape of arctic ships given.

L.G. Tsoy, S.B. Karavanov, Yu.V. Glebko, F.A. Moreinis, N.A. Vyssotskaya, S.M. Ponomarev, 1999, Design Requirements for Future NSR Ships, INSROP.©