Numerical Analysis on Freezing in the Ship Voyaging in Polar Regions

For vessels operating in the cold climate regions, the ballast water inside or hopper tanks above the waterline may be frozen, starting at the top of the tank and at the side walls. Therefore, countermeasures against freeze-up of the ballast tank such as air-bubbling system, hot steam injecting system, heating coil system and water circulating system are taken to prevent freeze-up phenomenon; however, there are no rigorous investigations of anti-freezing to examine the effectiveness and validity of systems against freeze-up of the ballast tank, in which the temperatures are about -$25^{\circ}C$ (ambient air temperature) and $0^{\circ}C$ (sea water), respectively. In this paper, to ensure reasonable specifications for cold regions if the measures from the above-mentioned systems against freeze-up are effective, the phenomenon of ballast tank freeze-up is simulated and discussed in low temperature conditions. With the results using the commercial CFD code, CFX 14, the most cost-effective solution is conducted to prevent being frozen along the outer surface.