Under the background of the energy saving and emission reduction, more and more attention has been placed on investigating the energy efficiency of ships. The added resistance has been noted for being crucial in predicting the decrease of speed on a ship operating at sea. Furthermore, it is also significant to investigate the added resistance for a ship functioning in short waves of large modern ships. The researcher presents an estimation formula for the calculation of an added resistance study in short waves derived from the reflection law. An improved method has been proposed to calculate the added resistance due to ship motions, which applies the radiated energy theory along with the strip method. This procedure is based on an extended integral equation (EIE) method, which was used for solving the hydrodynamic coefficients without effects of the irregular frequency. Next, a combined method was recommended for the estimation of added resistance for a ship in the whole wave length range. The comparison data with other experiments indicate the method presented in the paper provides satisfactory results for large blunt ship.

Numerical simulation is investigated to disclose how propeller boss cap fins (PBCF) operate utilizing Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) method. In addition, exploration of the influencing mechanism of PBCF on the open water efficiency of one controllable-pitch propeller is analyzed through the open water characteristic curves, blade surface pressure distribution and hub streamline distribution. On this basis, the influence of parameters including airfoil profile, diameter, axial position of installation and circumferential installation angle on the open water efficiency of the controllable-pitch propeller is investigated. Numerical results show: for the controllable-pitch propeller, the thrust generated is at the optimum when the radius of boss cap fins is 1.5 times of propeller hub with an optimal installation position in the axial direction, and its optimal circumferential installation position is the midpoint of the extension line of the front and back ends of two adjacent propeller roots in the front of fin root. Under these optimal parameters, the gain of open water efficiency of the controllable-pitch propeller with different advance velocity coefficients is greater than 0.01, which accounts for approximately an increase of 1%-5% of open water efficiency.

A new method to solve the boundary value problem arising in the study of scattering of two-dimensional surface water waves by a discontinuity in the surface boundary conditions is presented in this paper. The discontinuity arises due to the floating of two semi-infinite inertial surfaces of different surface densities. Applying Green’s second identity to the potential functions and appropriate Green’s functions, this problem is reduced to solving two coupled Fredholm integral equations with regular kernels. The solutions to these integral equations are used to determine the reflection and the transmission coefficients. The results for the reflection coefficient are presented graphically and are compared to those obtained earlier using other research methods. It is observed from the graphs that the results computed from the present analysis match exactly with the previous results.

A ship is operated under an extremely complex environment, and waves and winds are assumed to be the stochastic excitations. Moreover, the propeller, host and mechanical equipment can also induce the harmonic responses. In order to reduce structural vibration, it is important to obtain the modal parameters information of a ship. However, the traditional modal parameter identification methods are not suitable since the excitation information is difficult to obtain. Natural excitation technique-eigensystem realization algorithm (NExT-ERA) is an operational modal identification method which abstracts modal parameters only from the response signals, and it is based on the assumption that the input to the structure is pure white noise. Hence, it is necessary to study the influence of harmonic excitations while applying the NExT-ERA method to a ship structure. The results of this research paper indicate the practical experiences under ambient excitation, ship model experiments were successfully done in the modal parameters identification only when the harmonic frequencies were not too close to the modal frequencies.

To provide a simulation system platform for designing and debugging a small autonomous underwater vehicle’s (AUV) motion controller, a six-degree of freedom (6-DOF) dynamic model for AUV controlled by thruster and fins with appendages is examined. Based on the dynamic model, a simulation system for the AUV’s motion is established. The different kinds of typical motions are simulated to analyze the motion performance and the maneuverability of the AUV. In order to evaluate the influences of appendages on the motion performance of the AUV, simulations of the AUV with and without appendages are performed and compared. The results demonstrate the AUV has good maneuverability with and without appendages.

In order to study cavitation characteristics of a 2-D hydrofoil, the method that combines nonlinear cavitation model and mixed-iteration is used to predict and analyze the cavitation performance of hydrofoils. The cavitation elements are nonlinearly disposed based on the Green formula and perturbation potential panel method. At the same time, the method that combines cavity shape for fixed cavity length (CSCL) iteration and cavity shape for fixed cavitation number (CSCN) iteration is used to work out the thickness and length of hydrofoil cavitations. Through analysis of calculation results, it can be concluded that the jump of pressure and velocity potentially exist between cavitation end area and non-cavitations area on suction surface when cavitation occurs on hydrofoil. In certain angles of attack, the cavitation number has a negative impact on the length of cavitations. And under the same angle of attack and cavitation number, the bigger the thickness of the hydrofoil, the shorter the cavitations length.

Motion sickness is one of the main reasons why travelling by sea becomes a bad memory for a number of people, mainly due to a nauseating symptom. The aim of this paper is to characterize a condition called seasickness that has affected many people from a mathematical and psychological point of view. Based on the mathematical characterization, an existing model will be reviewed and described. In the psychological aspects, a statistical study of two hundred and thirteen people was performed in order to provide a comprehensive view of the different psychological factors affecting the passengers. Motion sickness also impacts onboard safety, as it reduces the effectiveness and the operating capability of the crew when responding to hazardous situations.

The quarter-circular caisson breakwater (QCB) is a new type of breakwater, and it can be applied in deepwater. The stability of QCB under wave force action can be enhanced, and the rubble mound engineering can be less than that of semi-circular breakwaters in deepwater. In order to study the wave force distribution acting on the QCB, to find wave force formula for this type of breakwater, firstly in this paper, the distribution characteristics of the horizontal force, the downward vertical force and the uplift force on the breakwater were gotten based on physical model wave flume experiments and on the analysis of the wave pressure experimental data. Based on a series of physical model tests acted by irregular waves, a kind of calculation method, which was modified by Goda formula, was proposed to carry out the wave force on the QCB. Secondly, the reliability method with correlated variables was adopted to analyze the QCB, considering the high correlation between wave forces or moments. Utilizing the observed wave data in engineering field, the reliability index and failure probability of QCB were obtained. Finally, a factor Q=0.9 is given to modify the zero pressure height above SWL of QCB, and wave force partial coefficient 1.34 to the design expressions of QCB for anti-sliding, as well as 1.67 for anti-overturning, were presented.

This paper presents a design of boundary controllers implemented at the top end for global stabilization of a marine riser in a three dimensional space under environmental loadings. Based on the energy approach, nonlinear partial differential equations of motion, including bending-bending and longitudinal-bending couplings for the risers are derived. The couplings cause mutual effects between the three independent directions in the riser’s motions, and make it difficult to minimize its vibrations. The Lyapunov direct method is employed to design the boundary controller. It is shown that the proposed boundary controllers can effectively reduce the riser’s vibration. Stability analysis of the closed-loop system is performed using the Lyapunov direct method. Numerical simulations illustrate the results.

Offshore observation platforms are required to have great ability to resist waves when they are operating at sea. Investigation on the motion characteristics of the platforms in the sea can provide significant reference values during the platform design procedure. In this paper, a series of numerical simulation on the interaction of a triple-hulled offshore observation platform with different incident waves is carried out. All of the simulations are implemented utilizing our own solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU, which is based and developed on the open source tools of OpenFOAM. Duration curves of motion characteristics and loads acting on the platform are obtained, and a comparison between the results of the amplitude in different incident waves is presented. The results show that the solver is competent in the simulation of motion response of platforms in waves.

The plow of the submarine plowing trencher is one of the main functional mechanisms, and its optimization is very important. The design parameters play a very significant role in determining the requirements of the towing force of a vessel. A multi-objective genetic algorithm based on analytical models of the plow surface has been examined and applied in efforts to obtain optimal design of the plow. For a specific soil condition, the draft force and moldboard surface area which are the key parameters in the working process of the plow are optimized by finding the corresponding optimal values of the plow blade penetration angle and two surface angles of the main cutting blade of the plow. Parameters such as the moldboard side angle of deviation, moldboard lift angle, angular variation of the tangent line, and the spanning length are also analyzed with respect to the force of the moldboard surface along soil flow direction. Results show that the optimized plow has an improved plow performance. The draft forces of the main cutting blade and the moldboard are 10.6% and 7%, respectively, less than the original design. The standard deviation of Gaussian curvature of moldboard is lowered by 64.5%, which implies that the smoothness of the optimized moldboard surface is much greater than the original.

In the normal operation condition, a conventional square-root cubature Kalman filter (SRCKF) gives sufficiently good estimation results. However, if the measurements are not reliable, the SRCKF may give inaccurate results and diverges by time. This study introduces an adaptive SRCKF algorithm with the filter gain correction for the case of measurement malfunctions. By proposing a switching criterion, an optimal filter is selected from the adaptive and conventional SRCKF according to the measurement quality. A subsystem soft fault detection algorithm is built with the filter residual. Utilizing a clear subsystem fault coefficient, the faulty subsystem is isolated as a result of the system reconstruction. In order to improve the performance of the multi-sensor system, a hybrid fusion algorithm is presented based on the adaptive SRCKF. The state and error covariance matrix are also predicted by the priori fusion estimates, and are updated by the predicted and estimated information of subsystems. The proposed algorithms were applied to the vessel dynamic positioning system simulation. They were compared with normal SRCKF and local estimation weighted fusion algorithm. The simulation results show that the presented adaptive SRCKF improves the robustness of subsystem filtering, and the hybrid fusion algorithm has the better performance. The simulation verifies the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Underwater gliders are recent innovative types of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) used in ocean exploration and observation. They adjust their buoyancy to dive and to return to the ocean surface. During the change of altitude, they use the hydrodynamic forces developed by their wings to move forward. Their flights are controlled by changing the position of their centers of gravity and their buoyancy to adjust their trim and heel angles. For better flight control, the understanding of the hydrodynamic behavior and the flight mechanics of the underwater glider is necessary. A 6-DOF motion simulator is coupled with an unsteady potential flow model for this purpose. In some specific cases, the numerical study demonstrates that an inappropriate stabilizer dimension can cause counter-steering behavior. The simulator can be used to improve the automatic flight control. It can also be used for the hydrodynamic design optimization of the devices.

Based on existing low-frequency water-filled impedance tube testing facilities, which is a part of the Low Frequency Facility of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Beijing, an improved water-filled pulse tube method is presented in this short paper. This proposed study is significantly different from the conventional pulse tube method because of the capability for a single plane damped sine pulse wave to generate in the water-filled pulse tube with a regular waveform and short duration time of about 1ms. During the generation process of the pulse, an inverse filter principle was adopted to compensate the transducer response. The effect of the characteristics of tube termination can be eliminated through the generation process of the pulse. Reflection coefficient from a water/air interface was measured to verify the proposed method. When compared with the expected theoretical values, a relatively good agreement can be obtained in the low frequency range of 500–2 000 Hz.