Comparative study of impression and cutting into ice by helical blade

The paper presents the results of energy efficiency studies of helical blade penetration types into ice. There are two principally different ways of helical groove generation in ice – by cutting and impression. It was found out that at a longer duration of the penetration process of the helical blade with a smaller lead angle the energy demand of the propulsion gets lower due to impression. At blade penetration by cutting, there is an extremum at the angle of cutting of 40-45 0 , however, the energy demand in such condition is still higher than that of the penetration by impression. Considerable attention is paid in the paper to the measurement of the noise generation during the interaction with the penetrated surface which allows for prompt assessment of the energy efficiency of the considered parameter. The obtained results allow for efficiency improvement of the operation of vehicles with rotary screw propulsion units in real environments, as well as for their increased reliability due to new diagnostics methods.