Seakeeping assessment of fishing vessels in conceptual design stage

The main idea of this paper is to identify functional relations between seakeeping characteristics and hull form parameters of Mediterranean fishing vessels. Multiple regression analysis is used for quantitative assessment through a computer software that is based on the SQL Server Database. The seakeeping attributes under investigation are the transfer functions of heave and pitch motions and of absolute vertical acceleration at stern, while the ship parameters influencing motion dynamics have been classified into two groups: displacement (Δ) and main dimensions (L, B, T), coefficients that define the details of the hull form (C_WP, C_VP, LCB, LCF, etc.).Four multiple regression models having different parameter combinations are here investigated and discussed, giving way to the so-called ‘Simple Model’, ‘Intermediate Model’, ‘Enhanced 1 Model’ and ‘Enhanced 2 Model’. The obtained results are more than satisfactory for seakeeping predictions during the conceptual design stage.     

Nonlinear meta-models for conceptual seakeeping design of fishing vessels

The scope of this paper is to develop the nonlinear meta-models for seakeeping behaviour, considering the fishing vessels. These models are intended to be inserted either in a multiattribute design selection process or in a comprehensive multiobjective optimization procedure. For this purpose, seakeeping data of fishing vessels in regular head waves are used to develop meta-models of transfer functions of heave, pitch and vertical acceleration by nonlinear analysis. A home-made software considers two databases; the first is composed by the ship dimensions and coefficients of fishing vessels, and the second is their ship motion data obtained by employing a strip-theory calculation. The meta-models are proposed to predict the vertical motion characteristics for given ranges of speed and wave length during the concept design stage. The independent variables are hull size (Δ), main dimensions (L, B, T), and some hydrostatic parameters (C_WP, C_VP, LCB, LCF, etc.). The results estimated by the software show good correspondences with the ones achieved by direct computations. The study provides additional insight on the influence of hull form parameters on seakeeping performance of small vessels having form properties and parametric range corresponding to the investigated vessels.     

Wave height statistics for seakeeping assessment of ships in the Adriatic Sea

The paper presents methodology and results of the development of sea states statistics for the Adriatic Sea. Such statistics is still lacking despite a need of the shipping industry. The presented study is based on the Atlas of Climatology containing statistics of sea states observations in the Adriatic Sea made by merchant ships during the period of 15 years. The results, presented in the Atlas in the form of “wave roses”, are digitalized and empirical frequencies of sea state occurrences are obtained. The 3-parametric Weibull distribution is then fitted through empirical data points enabling the “smoothening” of the histogram. The resulting histogram is compared with other studies for the long-term prediction of the sea states in the Adriatic Sea. The paper concludes with the discussion on the accuracy and applicability of the results.     

A parametric study of wave loads on trimaran ships traveling in waves

In this paper, we present a spectral analysis based on wave loads to select suitable side-hull arrangements for a trimaran ship traveling in waves. Neglecting the steady flow effect, the three-dimensional source-distribution method, using a pulsating source potential incorporating the panel method, is adopted to solve the corresponding hydrodynamic coefficients. The significant values for wave loads, including shear forces, bending moments, and torsion moments at different locations on the main hull and connected deck with respect to different staggers and clearances, are derived by the spectral analysis. Several ship speeds and wave headings are also considered for comparison. This study offers more information for selecting the side-hull arrangement from the viewpoint of wave loads on trimaran ships, which may be regarded as helpful references for seakeeping design of these types of ships.     

Effect of criteria on seakeeping performance assessment

The overall performance of ships depends on the seakeeping performance in specified sea areas where the vessel is designed to operate. The seakeeping performance procedure is based upon the probability of exceeding specified ship motions in a sea environment particular to the vessel's mission. Given the operational area of the vessel, the percentage of time the vessel operates in a particular sea state can be determined from an oceanographic database through application of the response amplitude operators. The predicted motions are compared to the motion limiting criteria to obtain the operability indices. However, the operability indices are strongly affected by the chosen limiting criteria. This is particularly the case for passenger vessels where many conflicting criteria are used to assess the effect of motions and accelerations on comfort and well-being of passengers. This paper investigates the effect of seakeeping criteria on seakeeping performance assessment for passenger vessels. Conventional seakeeping performance measures are evaluated for various levels of vertical accelerations defined by the ISO 2631 standard. It is shown that the estimated seakeeping performance of a passenger vessel greatly depends on the level of limiting value selected as the seakeeping criteria.     

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.     

On the parametric resonance of container ships

This work deals with parametric resonance which poses a great danger especially for container ships sailing in following or head seas. Important parameters that are effective in roll resonance are pointed out. For this purpose, a containership is taken as an example to analyze its stability in longitudinal waves based on the method worked out by American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). Unfavorable sailing conditions such as heading and speed, which directly depend on the environmental conditions, have been determined for this particular ship. These conditions may be reported to the master to guide him to keep his ship out of parametric resonance zones. Numerical details of the procedure have been worked out and provided as well.     

我国战略石油储备船概念设计研究

阐述了建立我国战略石油储备的必要性，对国外石油储备状况及储备方式做了简要介绍。从我国国情出发，提出了80万m^3浮式钢结构储油船方案设计，建立了储油船整船有限元模型，利用全船三维有限元结构分析技术进行了油舱的分舱设计，供超大型储油船设计时参考。     

A conceptual design of an underwater vehicle

The paper presents a conceptual design of an underwater star wars’ system, which will be more difficult to detect by the enemy than a recently proposed ‘surface’ star wars’ system.The paper suggests that for the proposed structures needed for the underwater star wars’ system, the material of construction should be a composite and not a metal, as use of the latter for large deep diving underwater vessels will result in such structures sinking to the bottom of the ocean like stones, due to the fact that they will have no reserve buoyancy. The paper also shows that composites have better sound absorption characteristics, thereby making the underwater structures difficult to detect through sonar equipment. It is proposed that these underwater structures should operate up to a depth of 7.16 miles (11.52 km), as at this depth, all of the oceans’ bottoms can be reached.The author shows that current technology can be used to construct and operate such vessels, but more progress needs to be made with metal matrix and ceramic composites, so that the hulls of underwater missiles and torpedoes can be constructed in these materials.     

A parametric design study for a semi/SCR system in Northern North Sea

In recent years, offshore reservoirs have been developed in deeper and deeper water environments. Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are being considered in deepwater development such as Northern North Sea. SCRs used in conjunction with a semi-submersible or floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) in deepwater harsh environments present significant design challenges. The large vertical motions at the semi or FPSO induce severe riser response, which results in difficulty meeting strength and fatigue criteria at the hang off and touch down point locations. To improve the understanding of SCR behaviour and increase the confidence in the design of such systems in deepwater harsh environments, a parametric study on a SCR connected to a semi-submersible was carried out in this paper to deal with the factors that mainly influence the loading condition and fatigue life of the riser. Weight-optimized configurations were applied during the course of riser design. Riflex combined with DeepC was the primary analysis tool used for the long-term response of the nonlinear SCR structure simulations, which requires a large amount of computer time. Hence, the parameters affecting the efficiency and accuracy of the simulations have also been studied during the analysis process.     

A conceptual design of an underwater missile launcher

The paper presents a conceptual design of an underwater missile launcher, which will be more difficult to detect by the enemy than conventional surface missile launchers which are currently being used.The paper suggests that the material of construction should be a composite and not a metal, as use of the latter for a large deep diving underwater vessel will result in such a structure sinking like a stone, due to the fact that it will have no reserve buoyancy. The paper also shows that composites have better sound absorption characteristics, thereby making the underwater structure difficult to detect through sonar equipment. It is proposed that this launcher should operate up to a depth of 5000 m, as at this depth, some 60% of the oceans' bottoms can be reached.The author shows that current technology can be used to construct and operate such a vessel.     

A new method for platform design based on parametric technology

A new method for platform design, named parametric platform design method (PPDM), is presented in this paper in order to improve the mobile platform design efficiency. In this method, an integrated parametric system that fully considers the characteristics of the platform is developed, which significantly optimizes the design process with the top–bottom design concept. In the parametric system, the main geometric dimensions are taken as parameters, while the topology between the structure members, the function requirements and the safety requirements are converted into geometric constraints. By geometric constraint solving (GCS), a set of parameters that satisfy all the given constraints are determined, and then the design scheme is obtained by several core algorithms, such as parametric tank subdivision, 3D stability calculation, parametric structure design, FEM preprocessing, etc. The parametric method greatly increases the changeability and the reusability of the platform model, and concurrent design is well supported. As the model is driven by parameters, PPDM is an excellent method for optimization design. As a result, PPDM has incomparable advantages on the design efficiency over traditional methods.     

Numerical and experimental study on seakeeping performance of ship in finite water depth

Vessels operating in shallow waters require careful observation of the finite-depth effect. In present study, a Rankine source method that includes the shallow water effect and double body steady flow effect is developed in frequency domain. In order to verify present numerical methods, two experiments were carried out respectively to measure the wave loads and free motions for ship advancing with forward speed in head regular waves. Numerical results are systematically compared with experiments and other solutions using the double body basis flow approach, the Neumann-Kelvin approach with simplified m-terms, and linearized free surface boundary conditions with double-body m-terms. Furthermore, the influence of water depths on added mass and damping coefficients, wave excitation forces, motions and unsteady wave patterns are deeply investigated. It is found that finite-depth effect is important and unsteady wave pattern in shallow water is dependent on both of the Brard number τ and depth Froude number F_h.     

On the parametric rolling of ships using a numerical simulation method

This paper has shown a numerical motion simulation method which can be employed to study on parametric rolling of ships in a seaway. The method takes account of the main nonlinear terms in the rolling equation which stabilize parametric rolling, including the nonlinear shape of the righting arm curve, nonlinear damping and cross coupling among all 6 degrees of freedom. For the heave, pitch, sway and yaw motions, the method uses response amplitude operators determined by means of the strip method, whereas the roll and surge motions of the ship are simulated, using nonlinear motion equations coupled with the other 4 degrees of freedom. For computing righting arms in seaways, Grim's effective wave concept is used. Using these transfer functions of effective wave together with the heave and pitch transfer functions, the mean ship immersion, its trim and the effective regular wave height are computed for every time step during the simulation. The righting arm is interpolated from tables, computed before starting the simulation, depending on these three quantities and the heel angle. The nonlinear damping moment and the effect of bilge keels are also taken into account. The numerical simulation tool has shown to be able to model the basic mechanism of parametric rolling motions. Some main characteristics of parametric rolling of ships in a seaway can be good reproduced by means of the method. Comprehensive parametric analyses on parametric rolling amplitude in regular waves have been carried out, with that the complicated parametric rolling phenomena can be understood better.     

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.     

新型深水钻井隔水管悬挂系统设计

南海海域台风频发,对于深水浮式钻井平台,常规避台模式要求回收所有隔水管,但是在深水、超深水海域,这种应对台风的方案有其局限性。据测算,水深超过1 500 m时,台风准备时间(回收所有隔水管、处理井口的作业时间)超过4天,而目前天气预报的水平只能提前4～5天,因此常规避台难度极大,经常会遭遇到还没有起完隔水管,台风已经逼近平台位置的情况,悬挂隔水管成为一种不得不面对的防台避台方案。硬悬挂和软悬挂是目前悬挂隔水管两种常见的模式,由于软悬挂能够补偿和缓解钻井船升沉施加在悬挂隔水管上的动态载荷,因此业内普遍认为软悬挂模式在提高悬挂隔水管对海洋环境的适应能力方面具有一定的优势,但是常规的软悬挂模式作业程序复杂,而且实施过程中存在伸缩节、张力器液缸等相关设备冲程超标的风险。通过对隔水管悬挂状态下横向和轴向的动力响应进行分析,确定了限制隔水管悬挂安全的主要因素,针对隔水管应力超标和转角过大、干涉等风险,设计了一种具有加装扶正器的锥形悬挂短节;针对悬挂隔水管的轴向压缩风险,研制了一种具有补偿功能的隔水管悬挂装置,降低了悬挂隔水管动态载荷产生轴向压缩和动态应力超标的风险。定量评估表明使用新型隔水管悬挂系统,可以将常规的悬挂窗口由不足10年一遇波流环境条件提高到满足100年一遇的波流环境条件,大大提高了悬挂隔水管的安全性。     

Free vibration of semisubmersibles: A parametric study

Like any other engineering structure, the dynamic aspects of semisubmersible offshore platforms require serious consideration. The free vibrations of the semisubmersible structures have been investigated in the present work, in which the effect of the variation of the length, draft and hull spacings on the natural frequencies and mode shapes has been studied and the nature of the variations and their reasons have been discussed.     

深水铺管船A&R绞车控制系统概念设计

在分析了现有深水铺管船A&R绞车控制系统组成及原理的基础上,提出以外环张力自适应模糊控制及内环速度PID控制相结合的方式,通过外环自适应模糊控制器实时修改并匹配内环速度PID控制器比例、积分及微分系数的策略,优化设计了电驱A&R绞车控制系统,改善了系统响应速度及鲁棒性.并基于Vacon变频器和Siemens PIC,采用AFE共直流母线技术,以Profibus DP总线形式完成了控制系统硬件实现方案,为深水铺管船A&R绞车国产化提供了一定的指导作用.     

Application of potential flow methods to fast displacement ships at transcritical speeds in shallow water

Computer codes implementing three different numerical methods for the prediction of ship squat at transcritical speeds in shallow open-water are tested. SlenderFlow is a potential flow code specifically for ships in very shallow water, based on partially dispersive slender body theory. Flotilla is a potential flow code based on fully dispersive thin-ship theory. Rapid is a general nonlinear free-surface panel code. Code predictions of transcritical sinkage, trim and resistance in laterally unrestricted water were compared to the experimental results of Graff (1964) for two Taylor series hulls in a finite-width towing tank. Once tank width effects were accounted for, each of the three codes was found to give good predictions within the valid range of the underlying theory. A simple method for estimating transcritical wave resistance from trim is presented.     

A parametric sensitivity study on LNG tank sloshing loads by numerical simulations

A series of parametric sensitivity studies on unmatched dimensionless scale parameters is carried out on the liquified natural gas (LNG) tank sloshing loads by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program. First, a brief dimensional analysis is conducted to identify the governing and non-matched non-dimensional parameters, assuming that Froude scaling law is adopted. Then the sensitivity of impact pressure is checked through numerical simulations against non-matched parameters, such as fluid viscosity, liquid-gas density ratio, and ullage pressure and compressibility. The CFD simulations are also verified against experimental results. It is concluded that the effects of viscosity and density ratio are insignificant, while the compressibility of ullage space plays an appreciable role, as was pointed out by Bass et al. [Bass, R.L., Bowles, E.B., Trudell, R.W., Navickas, J., Peck, J.C., Yoshimura, N., Endo, S., Pots, B.F.M., 1985. Modeling criteria for scaled LNG sloshing experiments. Transactions of the ASME 107, 272-280].