Iceberg cutting with a hot wire: Fid-Bau Portal

Iceberg cutting with a hot wire

Gammon, P.H. / Lewis, John Courtenay / Muir, Langley R.

AbstractThe engineering feasibility of several potential methods for inducing the large scale fracture of icebergs has been investigated. These methods included conventional explosives and incendiaries, thermal fracture of ice, various sorts of directed beams (radiation, fluid or particles), injected pressurised fluid (both confined and unconfined) and cutting with an electrically heated wire. All methods required large quantities of materials and/or energy. Some methods, while technically and perhaps economically feasible, were unacceptable from an environmental viewpoint.It has been determined that the cutting of an iceberg with an electrically heated small diameter tube stands out as the most practical approach. The tube is heated with a DC current of several hundred amperes and simultaneously moderated with a flow of fluid to prevent burnout. The electric power requirements are manageable in the marine context (a few hundreds of kilowatts) and the equipment is fairly conventional; hence not overly difficult to obtain and configure.A field program carried out within the context of the present study has demonstrated the functionality of the hot wire cutting method. Based on the results of this program, the design for a fully operational full scale version of an iceberg cutting system has been outlined and is judged appropriate for serious consideration in developing iceberg management strategies for Canada's East Coast oilfields.