An overview of the Oden Arctic Technology Research Cruise 2015 (OATRC2015) and numerical simulations performed with SAMS driven by data collected during the cruise

Abstract

In the autumn of 2015, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) performed a research cruise named the “Oden Arctic Technology Research Cruise 2015” (OATRC2015); it involved the two Swedish icebreakers, Oden and Frej, in the international waters north of Svalbard. The ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company supported and participated in OATRC2015. The overall objective of OATRC2015 was to perform a safe cruise, collect valuable and important scientific data, and conduct full-scale field trials to test key technologies. The scientific scope of OATRC2015 included three major fields of study, namely: 1) collection of full-scale data necessary to build, calibrate and validate numerical models for floaters in ice, 2) collection of full-scale data necessary to build, calibrate and validate numerical models for ice management operations, and 3) collection of data for health, safety and environmental research. This paper presents OATRC2015, including the objectives of the expedition, and provides an overview of the research performed and the major findings. In addition, the paper includes an extensive discussion on the use of full-scale data from OATRC2015 to validate the Simulator for Arctic Marine Structures (SAMS).