Bureau Veritas publishes new rules for Polar Class vessels

Offshore staff

HOUSTON -- Bureau Veritas has published new rules for Polar Class vessels and specific guidance on ice/structure interaction. The rules are aimed at speeding arctic and Caspian Sea oil and gas development by facilitating the building of tank, cargo, and offshore service vessels which can operate unsupported by icebreakers in very heavy ice. The guidance note aims to facilitate floating LNG and oil platform construction in high arctic conditions.

BV is currently classing a series of offshore vessels specifically for the Caspian Sea, which has very heavy ice characteristics.

BV has published Guidance Note NI565 "Ice Characteristics and Ice/Structure Interactions" to
collect and provide data on ice characteristics as well as giving some guidance on the calculations of the forces generated by the ice on ships and offshore structures. It indicates some information on the different types of ice and on their mechanical properties. It gives some analytical formulae and methodologies to estimate the forces applied on the structures due to ice, with respect to the different modes of failure of the ice.

11/19/2010