Numerical study of icebreaking process with two different bow shapes based on developed particle method in parallel scheme

•A fast contact detection algorithm (FCDA) for ice-ship interaction (ISI) is proposed•The MPI parallelization for 2-D Peridynamic (PD) theory is first introduced•The newly developed ice-ship interaction (ISI) model is effective in predicting ice damage and crack propagation in the icebreaking process•The developed ice-ship interaction (ISI) model is applied to investigate icebreaking effectiveness for two different bow shapes The bow shape is the most critical factor to determine the icebreaking performance of an icebreaker. Mechanism study on the icebreaking process for different bow types is necessary for the initial design of the icebreaker hull form. This paper proposed an ice-ship interaction model based on the meshfree method, Peridynamics, in which the geometric mathematics concept is embedded to detect the contact between material points and ship hull. Furthermore, a fast contact detection algorithm based on Massage Passing Interface (MPI) solver is built to improve the computational efficiency of the developed numerical method. Two typical icebreaker bows, the conventional bow and the unconventional bow, breaking the level ice with constant speed is numerically studied by the above model. The results of the conventional icebreaker bow are compared with the experimental results, which verifies the simulation accuracy of the model developed in the present work. Afterwards, the icebreaking modes and icebreaking loads of two different shapes of icebreaker bows are compared and analysed. The results show that the developed ice-ship interaction model effectively predicts differences of icebreaking processes between different icebreakers, such as ice damage pattern, ice loads, and channel, despite their common point in domain bending failure mode. Moreover, this research significantly improves computational efficiency and provides theoretical guidance for designing the icebreaker bow.