| Abstract | A series of laboratory testing programs have been carried out to study the navigability of a conventional lifeboat design in a variety of environmental conditions. The present test series investigated the combined effects of ice and waves on this lifeboat design. The model lifeboat was constructed at a scale of 1:13. The variables in the test program included ice concentration, wave period and launch direction. The lifeboat had to meet a pass/fail criterion, which depended on whether the vessel could make way in a given environmental condition. Overall, the lifeboat was able to make way in all cases when traveling with the wave direction. Traveling into the waves, however, the vessel rarely made head way except in very light ice conditions. Compared to a previous test series with ice but no waves, the lifeboat was able to travel through higher ice concentrations when waves were present, compared to when there were no waves (as long as the vessel was traveling with the waves). Additionally, the vessel had a number of major problems,including lifeboat navigational break-downs due to ice becoming jammed in the propellers, the vessel becoming beached upon ice floes and poor visibility with respect to navigation using the onboard window. The ice floe collisions that the vessel encountered were also severe. The results provide further insight into the viability of conventional evacuation lifeboat systems in ice-covered water conditions. |
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