Coatings for Ice-Going vessels as well as for Ice-Breaking vessels can significantly influence the resistance while sailing in ice-covered waters. Corresponding to the ice-breaking capability and the operational profile different coating variants can be applied. For vessels which are not or only partially sailing in ice covered waters anti fouling is an important part of the coating while vessels mainly operating in ice, the friction and abrasiveness are important factors. On the other hand yachts or other vessels requiring a smooth hull finish covering the steel structure are nowadays sailing in ice covered areas more frequently. These hulls are traditionally smoothened by filler while also new developments based on automatically applied foam are in the development phase.
Detailed knowledge of the service durability including the abrasiveness as well frictional coefficient can significantly influence the selection of the optimal paint for the targeted operational profile. To evaluate these effects and to gain a wider knowledge about ice and hull interaction test capabilities are extended during the research project “MegaYachtSchaum” in HSVA’s ice laboratory. The new developed test capabilities for frictional resistance and ice compression tests are presented and described in detail. First tests analyses using the automated test execution and evaluation setup ” are presented. Findings generated by the newly implemented post processing tool will be discussed and conclusions about applicability of the newly developed test capabilities are given based on the example case. Furthermore the new test capabilities for ice friction and compression tests will be discussed based on their future assistance to select the most suitable hull coating for each trade.
