Seakeeping performance of fishing vessels in irregular waves

A study of the seakeeping performance of a set of fishing vessels is carried out aiming to identify the seakeeping criteria, and vessel conditions that limit the operability of the fishing vessels in certain sea states. Ship motions and derived responses are obtained in fully developed sea states using the transfer functions of the hull forms. Those responses are assessed against the prescribed values, for the chosen criteria, to determine the vessels operational conditions that might result in hazards or seasickness. For the purpose of this study, each fishing vessel is considered operating in sea states 5 and 6, with different Froude numbers and heading angles, and their short term responses are assessed against the most relevant criteria related with the absolute and relative motions, accelerations, slamming and green water on deck. The results obtained show that roll and pitch criteria are most critical for seakeeping performance, and there is a significant influence of the transverse metacentric height, GMt, and the location of the reference checking points in the seakeeping performance of these fishing vessels.     

A new methodology developed by cetena to assess the seakeeping behaviour of marine vessels

The paper describes an analytical method to determine an operability index for a marine vehicle when its geometric characteristics, the geographical area in which the vessel is supposed to operate, and the limiting criteria for operations are known. The computer program based on strip theory provides reliable results not only for conventional hullforms, but also for catamarans, offshore vehicles, etc. The results are presented in the form of figures for different vessels, namely, crane barge, naval vessels and SWATH type catamarans. The authors are of the opinion that the proposed method would provide the designer with a valid tool to improve the seakeeping qualities of a vessel, while taking into account the limiting conditions imposed due to seaway operations.     

Full scale CFD seakeeping simulations for case study ship redesigned from V-shaped bulbous bow to X-bow hull form

Increasing propulsion efficiency, safety, comfort and operability are of the great importance, especially for small ships operating on windy sites like the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Seakeeping performance of ships and offshore structures can be analysed by different methods and the one that is becoming increasingly important is CFD RANS. The recent development of simulation techniques together with rising HPC accessibility enables performance of advanced seakeeping simulations for ships in a full scale. The paper presents CFD seakeeping analysis for a case study vessel in two variants: V-shaped bulbous bow hull form (as built) and innovative hull form (X-bow type). The study presents the influence of redesigning the ship on selected seakeeping aspects. The advanced CFD model, with the application of overset mesh technique, was described in detail. Selected numerical results were validated on the basis of experimental testing in a towing tank and showed good agreement. The approach demonstrated here of performing the CFD seakeeping simulations for the analysis of ship performance in a full scale and close to real loading conditions has direct application to the design process as well as in determination of optimal operational parameters of any ship.     

Seasickness prediction in passenger ships at the design stage

Seakeeping qualities are one of the most important aspects for passenger ships, since a collateral effect of seakeeping, the seasickness, can avoid the use of ships and ferries among passengers who can choose a different way of transport. Therefore, it is important for ship designers and ship owners to predict and evaluate the seasickness effects at the design stage.In this paper, a review of the seasickness causes and effects is made, and a mathematical model that includes several human factors is proposed. This model is applicable especially in big passenger ships where different kind of spaces or activities for the passengers can be found inside the ship.The way to present the large amount of information obtained in seakeeping calculations is important, and it is useful to detect the most conflictive parts of the ship's general arrangement. Calculations for an example ferry are presented.     

Strip theories applied to the vertical motions of high speed crafts

The motions of a high speed craft are highly influenced by speed and dynamic forces that begin to be important for high Froude numbers. Classical ship motions theories and some seakeeping programs do not include the effect of these dynamic forces that mainly affect to the damping of vertical motions, and have to be corrected to model high speed crafts. In any other way, the use of these theories or programs would be unrealistic. In this paper, some theories that can be used to predict the seakeeping behaviour of high speed crafts, considering dynamic forces, are studied and validated against seakeeping tests of some fast monohulls models. Tests and results focus on vertical motions in head seas, which are the most severe for these fast crafts. Experimental results of vertical motions are compared with numerical calculations and conclusions about the range of application of the presented theories are obtained.     

Seakeeping standard series for oblique seas (a synopsis)

The seakeeping performance in oblique seas for a series of 72 cruiser-stern hull forms has been evaluated analytically and is presented in a systematic way. The hull form series have been created by Loukakis and Chryssostomidis (1975) by extending the principal characteristics of the Series 60 to cover usual shipbuilding practice. In that work, however, only the seakeeping performance in head seas was presented. Recently, the seakeeping performance of the Extended Series 60 was re-evaluated for both head seas and oblique seas. The complete results are presented in tabular and graphical form as a function of the principal characteristics of the ship, the Froude number (including Fn=0, missing in the original series), the non-dimensional modal wave period and the heading angle in a separate NTUA report (Grigoropoulos et al., 1994). In the present paper, the results for one case are given in tabular form accompanied by graphical representation. They include: heave, pitch, bending moment amidships, added resistance, absolute vertical acceleration and relative vertical motion at the bow and the stern regions and relative vertical velocity at stations 2 and 4 where slamming is likely to occur.     

Numerical analysis of the influence of fixed hydrofoil installation position on seakeeping of the planing craft

This paper analyzes the hydrodynamic performance of a planing craft with a fixed hydrofoil in regular waves. Numerical simulations are carried out based on a RANS-VOF solver to study the hydrodynamic performance of the planing craft and the influence of the fixed hydrofoil on its seakeeping. To validate the numerical method, a series of hydrodynamic experiments of a bare planing craft without the hydrofoil were carried out, from which the seakeeping performance of the planing craft was recorded, the numerical method based on overset grid was compared with the experiment and verified reliable. Eight hydrofoil design cases were then studied, whereby, their seakeeping performance in regular wave conditions were predicted through the numerical method which has been verified reliable and compared with each other. Effects of hydrofoil parameters, such as angle of attack and installation height, on the seakeeping performance were investigated. Finally, the suitable installation parameters which can optimize the performance of hydrofoil and reduce the negative influence are verified. The influence of the speed on the effect of the hydrofoil and the flow field around the planing craft are also investigated.     

Wave effects on ascending and descending motions of the autonomous underwater vehicle

In the paper, a hydrodynamic model including the characteristics of maneuvering and seakeeping is developed to simulate the six-degree of freedom motions of the underwater vehicle steering near the sea surface. The corresponding wave exciting forces on the underwater vehicle moving in waves are calculated by the strip theory, which is based on the source distribution method. With the hydrodynamic coefficients relevant to the maneuvering and seakeeping, the fourth-order Runge–Kutta numerical method is adopted to solve the equations of motions and six-degrees of freedom of the motions for the underwater vehicle steering near the free surface can be obtained. The wave effect on the corresponding motions of the underwater vehicle is investigated and some interesting phenomena with respect to different wave frequencies and headings are observed. The hydrodynamic numerical model developed here can be served as a valuable tool for analyzing the ascending and descending behaviors of the underwater vehicle near the sea surface.     

Parametric studies on seaworthiness of SWATH ships

This paper reports seakeeping studies performed on a parametrically varied set of SWATH hull forms. The SWATH form, because of its de-linked nature of design affords many variations of the underwater hull geometry without affecting overall deck length and beam. For a given displacement, the hull form can be varied in terms of length, basic section shape, maximum area of cross section of under water hull and strut water plane shape. Using these variants, a parametric family of hull forms has been generated employing Chebychev polynomial scheme for representing sectional area distribution and using a bi-quintic B-spline based surface definition scheme. Not all designs offer optimal performance in a given sea state. A twin-hull motion analysis program SEDOS has been used to study the motions and other dynamic effects. Setting criteria for operability, these dynamic effects have been quantified into a single value namely, operability index. The approach here fulfils an investigation at the design stage in order to tap the full advantage of the SWATH form. The study brings out a methodology for assessment of the SWATH at the design stage highlighting interesting results related to section shapes and sectional area distribution. Thus, combining a newly developed interactive surface generation scheme with an analysis package, a rapid assessment tool is offered for new design.     

Optimization of fishing vessels using a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm

A fishing boat hull is used as an example of how hull form optimization can be accomplished using a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA). The particular MOGA developed during this study allows automatic selection of a few Pareto Optimal results for examination by the designers while searching the complete Pareto Front. The optimization uses three performance indices for resistance, seakeeping and stability to modify the hull shape to obtain optimal hull offsets as well as optimal values for the principal parameters of length, beam and draft. The modification of the 148/1-B fishing boat hull, the parent hull form of the ?stanbul Technical University (?TÜ) series of fishing boats, is presented by first fixing the principal parameters and allowing the hull offsets to change, and secondly by simultaneously allowing variation of both the principal parameters and the hull offsets. Improvements in all three objectives were found. For further research the methodology can be modified to allow for the addition of other performance objectives, such as cost or specific mission objectives, as well as the use of enhanced performance prediction solvers. In addition, one or more hulls could be evaluated by experiment to validate the results of using this particular optimization approach.     

Some methods to obtain the added resistance of a ship advancing in waves

Added resistance in waves is an important part of ship dynamic due to its economical effect on ship exploitation. Can the ship sustain speed in a rough sea state? If not, this will produce delays and economical losses if added resistance is not taken into account in the propulsion design. There are not many simple methods to obtain the added resistance in waves of a ship, and the validity of the results is not always good enough for different ships. In this paper, some theories that can be used to predict the added resistance of a ship are studied and validated against seakeeping tests of some monohull models. Tests and results focus in head seas, which are the most severe for the added resistance. Experimental results are compared with numerical calculations and conclusions about the range of application of the presented theories are obtained.     

Experimental study on hydrodynamic performance of SWATH vessels in calm water and in head waves

An extensive experimental investigation on four SWATH hull forms has been conducted in calm water and in regular waves at University of Naples Federico II. Calm water tests have been analyzed in the range of Froude number Fr_T from 0.1 to 0.6. For all four SWATH configurations at the speed, corresponding to Fr_T 0.32, the behaviour in regular waves has been tested. The results of heave, pitch and vertical accelerations are presented in nondimensional form as RAO. For the “most promising” SWATH #4 configuration, a set of stabilizing fins have been designed and an active stabilization system has been developed. The developed SWATH#5 has been tested in calm water on three displacements in the range of Fr_T from 0.1 to 0.65. The dynamic wetted surface has been identified and the residual resistance coefficient C_R as well as R_T/Δ are reported. Seakeeping tests have been performed in regular head sea and in head and following irregular sea at Fr_T = 0.50. The conditions for the occurrence of dynamic longitudinal instabilities have been identified. The results allows to comment the effect of slenderness of struts and SWATH’s immersed bodies on resistance and seakeeping and concerns the applicability of SWATH concept to small craft.     

Numerical and experimental study on seakeeping performance of a SWATH vehicle in head waves

The seakeeping characteristics of a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) vehicle equipped with fixed stabilizing fins was investigated by experimental and numerical methods The calculation methods range from viscous CFD simulation based on an unsteady RANS approach to Boundary Element Method (BEM) based on Three Dimensional Translating-pulsating Source Green Function (3DTP). Responses of ship motions in head regular waves and nonlinear effects on motion responses with increasing wave amplitude were analyzed. Numerical simulations have been validated by comparisons with experimental tests. The results indicate that the heave and pitch transfer functions depict two peaks with the increase of wave length. Comparisons amongst experimental data and different numerical calculations illustrate that the RANS method predicts ship motions with higher accuracy and allows the detection of nonlinear effects. The heave and pitch transfer functions see a downward trend with the increasing wave amplitude in the resonant zone at low speed.     

Availability of offloading from an LNG barge

Long-term data sets are discussed for three locations – a southern North Sea location, where sea states are typically dominated by wind-sea conditions, a Northwest Shelf of Australia location, where sea states are often a mix of wind-sea and swell conditions, and a Guinea Gulf location offshore Nigeria, where sea states are dominated by swell. Various types of sea state statistics that have application to availability studies are presented; but databases of these type that also include wind and current data can also be used to estimate response parameters, which can give a more direct assessment of availability, and some example statistics of these are also given. Finally, the availability of offloading an FLNG barge to carrier is evaluated for each of the data sets, for specific operability criteria. Two types of operability criteria are used in the availability evaluations, and the results compared.     

Towards simulation of 3D nonlinear high-speed vessels motion

A numerical simulation algorithm based on the finite volume discretisation is presented for analyzing ship motions. The algorithm employs a fractional step method to deal with the coupling between the pressure and velocity fields. The free surface capturing is fulfilled by using a volume of fluid method in which the interface between the liquid (water) and gas (air) phases are computed by solving a scalar transport equation for the volume fraction of the liquid phase. The computed velocity field is employed to evaluate the acting forces and moments on the vessel. Using the strategy of boundary-fitted body-attached mesh and calculating all six degrees-of-freedom of motion in each time step, time history of ship motions including displacements, velocities and accelerations are evaluated.To verify the proposed algorithm, a series of verification tests are conducted. First, a two-dimensional asymmetrical wedge slamming is simulated as a simple type of a common case for high-speed vessels. Then, the steady-state forward motion of a high-speed planing catamaran is investigated. Results of both test cases show good agreement with experimental data. It is concluded that the proposed algorithm can be a promising strategy for both performance prediction and design of high-speed vessels.     

A seakeeping analysis method for an air-lifted vessel

A seakeeping analysis in the frequency domain is presented to predict the motion response of an air-lifted vessel (ALV) in waves. The ALV is supported by pressurised air in two separate cushion chambers; the pressure variation in the cushions has a significant effect on the motions of the vessel. The adiabatic gas law is used to couple cushion pressure and the free-surface elevation of water inside the chamber. Attention is focused on the waves generated by the pressure, and a method is presented to compute the corresponding free-surface elevation. New numerical schemes are proposed for calculating the three-dimensional free-surface elevation for the four wave numbers. Numerical results of the free-surface elevation, escape area, escape volume and motion responses of the ALV are provided.     

Numerical investigation of the seakeeping behavior of a catamaran advancing in regular head waves

A numerical study was undertaken in order to assess the capability of an unsteady RANS code to predict the seakeeping characteristics of a high-speed multi-hull vessel in high sea states. Numerical analysis includes evaluation of ship motions, effects of wave steepness on ship response, catamaran natural frequency and added resistance in waves. Computations were performed for the DELFT 372 catamaran by the URANS solver CFDSHIP-Iowa V.4. The code was validated with encouraging results for high ship speeds (0.3≤Fn≤0.75) and high wave amplitudes (0.025≤Ak≤0.1). Comparison with strip theory solutions shows that the RANS method predicts ship motions with higher accuracy and allows the detection of nonlinear effects. Current computations evidence that heave peaks occur at resonance for all Fn, and reach the absolute maximum at Fn=0.75. Maximum pitch occurs at frequencies lower than resonance, for each speed, and absolute maximum occurs at medium Fn=0.6. Maximum added resistance, R_aw, was computed at Fn=0.45, which, interestingly, is near the catamaran Fn_coincidence. Overall, we found similar results as Simonsen et al. (2008) for KCS containership, though, herein, a multi-hull geometry and higher speeds were tested. Also, our results are useful to further evaluate the exciting forces and their correlation with f_e and λ/L_pp.     

Numerical analysis and validation of weakly nonlinear ship motions and structural loads on a modern containership

This paper aims to validate a numerical seakeeping code based on a 3D Rankine panel method by comparing its results with experimental data. Particularly, the motion response and hull-girder loads on a real modern ship, a 6500 TEU containership, are considered in this validation study. The method of solution is a 3D Rankine panel method which adopts B-spline basis function in the time domain. The numerical code is based on the weakly nonlinear scheme which considers nonlinear Froude-Krylov and restoring forces. The main focus of this study is given to investigate the nonlinear characteristics of wave-induced loads, and to validate this present scheme for industrial use in the range of low Froude number. The comparisons show that the nonlinear motions and hull-girder loads, computed by the present numerical code, have good overall agreements with experimental results. It is found that, for the better accuracy of computational results, particularly at extreme waves in oblique seas, the careful treatment of soft-spring (or compatible) system is recommended to the control of non-restoring motions such as surge, sway, and yaw.     

An investigation on the vertical motion sickness characteristics of a high-speed catamaran ferry

Low frequent motions of vessel may cause motion sickness in rough seas. These undesirable effects induce fatigue of crews during the navigation. The motion sickness is always an important criterion for the high-speed craft design. Modern ferry designs have been marketed with a great emphasis on the seakeeping performance. This research has been carried out by investigating the results on the vertical motion sickness incidence (MSI) study for a 40 m wave-piecing catamaran at seas. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate the vertical motion sickness characteristics of a high-speed catamaran ferry. Two mathematical models, three-dimensional translating–pulsating source distribution technique and three-dimensional pulsating source distribution technique, are used for predicting the vertical acceleration responses of the wave-piecing catamaran in oblique waves. The comparison between numerical predictions and experimental data shows a good agreement except that around the pitch resonance region in FP vertical acceleration motions. Based on the experimental observation, the discrepancies may be caused by the nonlinear effects of centre bow during large pitch motions in waves. The comfort assessments are based on the ISO-2631/1997 standard with the hydrodynamic analysis for determining the acceleration levels in different locations on the vessel. The effects of seating location, wave heading and duration of motion exposure on seasickness are discussed.     

Stochastic inversion for the roll gyradius second moment mass property in ships at full-scale and model-scale

In current Naval Architecture practice, employing static considerations is an important and necessary step in assessing ship stability and seakeeping properties (e.g. inclining experiments, load line regulations, range of stability calculations). However, damaged vessels and vessels operating in heavy weather or in conditions where topside icing is a concern may require an additional assessment of stability that considers dynamic effects. Within such contexts, the actual (i.e. current) second moment properties of the vessel mass become very important in the associated equations of motion for a given ship. One such critical second mass moment property is the roll gyradius, as it is closely related to the occurrence of capsizing. The present paper furnishes a means for reckoning the actual roll gyradius of a given ship operating within a seaway. The approach hinges on the formulation and solution of a stochastic inverse problem that leverages existing seakeeping software against the shipboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) telemetry. The method is demonstrated at full-scale and validated at model scale.