An Artificial Potential Field Model for the Risk Assessment of Icebreaker Escort Operations

The icebreaker escort operations are typical navigation models in Arctic shipping. The current studies mainly focus on analyzing and quantifying the ship navigation risk for icebreaker escort operations concerning ship-to-ship collision avoidance. However, scenarios of ship stuck in sea ice are also interested and lacking study. To this end, we proposed a risk assessment model based on the artificial potential field theory, including two parts: a) the icebreaker risk field and b) the sea ice risk field. The icebreaker risk field describes the ship-to-ship collision risk, while the sea ice risk field describes the risk of ships stuck in sea ice. The proposed model can determine fleet members’ minimum and maximum safety distances to enhance the safety of Arctic fleet shipping