Equivalent ice thickness in ship ice transit simulations: overview of existing definitions and proposition of an improved one

Several definitions of equivalent ice thickness for simplification of complex ice cover are found in the literature. However, their systematic analysis is currently absent. Therefore, this paper reviews different definitions and validates them against a high-fidelity ice transit simulator, determining the most accurate one, with an average error of 16% for one analysed ship, and 10.5% for the other. Furthermore, capability of equivalent ice...