Abstract: With the intensified development of oil and gas resources and increasing oil transportation activities in the polar regions, the risk of oil spill accidents from ships has also increased. However, oil containment booms often fail in sea ice areas. To ensure navigation safety in sea ice areas and protect the fragile polar environment, this paper reports results of numerical experiments of oil containment by booms in ice-covered waters using the volume of fluid (VOF) and the Realizable k-ε turbulence model. Using different oil spill scenarios, the influence of factors such as boom depth, layout, water flow rate, and oil viscosity on containment was analyzed. The results show that: (1) with the increase of boom depth, the effective area of oil containment increases. The success rate of containment increases linearly with h. The time to entrainment failure increases and containment is more effective. (2) As the relative distance between the boom and the ice cover increases, the effect of the boundary layer on the fluid decreases. Oil droplets form. The success rate of containment increases linearly with D. The time to entrainment failure also increases, augmenting containment effectiveness. (3) As the water flow velocity increases, fluid kinetic energy also increases. The success rate of containment decreases linearly with u. The time to entrainment failure decreases and containment becomes less effective. (4) As the viscosity of the oil increases, the success rate of oil containment initially increases and then decreases. These results contribute to improving our understanding of oil containment by booms in the vicinity of sea ice, thereby providing information to support emergency responders in making decisions when addressing oil spill accidents in ice-covered waters.

Key words: polar ice area, oil spill from ships, oil boom, VOF method, numerical simulation