Michigan Students Research Ship Operations in the Arctic for NEEC Project

Michigan Students Research Ship Operations in the Arctic for NEEC Project

By By Kelley Stirling, NSWCCD Public Affairs

With the changing climate, the breaking ice in the Arctic has made the seas much more available to travel by water. There is more risk, though, navigating through ice-laden seas. Students at the University of Michigan are researching ideas for mitigating some of those risks, specifically for the U.S. Navy's opportunity to expand operations into the Arctic.

The project is a three-year Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) grant with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, known for their expertise in ship and ship systems design.

Professor Kevin Maki, director of the Aaron Friedman Marine Hydrodynamics Lab at the University of Michigan, coordinated this effort three years ago with 12 undergraduate students from different departments within the college of engineering. He directed them to develop a test plan and an experimental plan to answer the fundamental question on how to design a ship to operate in icy conditions.

The United States currently has two Coast Guard cutters that are ice-breakers, meaning their hull was built to withstand the loads necessary when driving through ice, but these ships are aging. The idea with this project was to determine if a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (DDG-51) could potentially operate in a marginal ice zone, which has a lot of floating, broken ice.

The University of Michigan was able to buy a segmented model of a pre-contract DDG-51 hull in order to do experiments in their tow basin. The students worked to determine what kind of loads a ship of this hull type would experience if they were to drive it into the marginal ice zone, which has lots of floating, broken ice. These ships could potentially help with rescue missions, patrol, and supplying ships in the region.

To stay within their budget, they used perforated spherical shells, better known as wiffle balls, as their ice. Maki said it was a great idea because it saved them so much money, and at the same time presented an educational opportunity to discuss the modelling differences between the wiffle balls and real ice. The plastic in wiffle balls has the same density as ice, so it floats like ice. On the other hand, the shape of a wiffle ball is very different than the wide range of shapes that are found in sea ice.

"The point of this project is to get undergraduates excited about working for the Navy," Maki said, adding that it's a project like this that gets young students engaged in the process of engineering, and also gives them the opportunity to see what kind of careers are available to them, like naval architecture or other marine engineering.

Dr. Paisan Atsavapranee, Carderock's science and technology lead for naval architecture and engineering, was the project mentor. "NEEC is a program that helps foster interaction between the Navy and their academic partners," Atsavapranee said. "The program really contributes to establishing pipelines of future engineers, which is one of the top priorities for Carderock leadership." He said this particular NEEC project was a complete success.

"It not only addressed a very real Navy need, but it also gave the students a glimpse into what naval engineers do in the Warfare Centers," Atsavapranee said. "It was really fun for me to see the students so engaged and excited."

Over the course of this NEEC project, some of the students got to participate in the Arctic and Antarctic Operations Symposium 2024 hosted by the American Society of Naval Engineers in March, followed by the Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference in November, which focused on exploring extreme weather in a changing climate.

"The students get really excited about these events that are specifically related to the research they are doing," Maki said. "Again, this is something that will get them thinking about potential careers with the Navy."

Maki said that one of the students who participated in this project, Patrick White, has a Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship. After he finishes his master's degree this year, he will work at Carderock in the Vulnerability Assessment Branch. White said his experience with this NEEC project was valuable.

"Our team has been composed of a diverse mix of majors every year, which prepared me to work on naval engineering problems with a multidisciplinary engineering team at Carderock," White said.

When White started college, he said he originally wanted to major in engineering physics, specializing in quantum computing. Advice he received during his freshman year set him on a different course, and he discovered a passion for structural engineering and design, which led him to study naval architecture and marine engineering with a focus on marine structures.

"Consider whatever you think you want to do and then try to get as much experience in other areas during your freshman year," White recalled. "This advice has two possible outcomes, both positive. You end up sticking with your original plan and your freshman experiences give you an enriching breadth of experience, or you find out that you truly want to do something else that you never would have considered otherwise. The latter was true in my case."