MOTION IN A IRREGULAR SEAWAY

A. RESPON IN AN IRREGULAR SEAWAY

The respon of a ship in an irregular sea way follows the same statistic laws as do the
waves. Records of a ship responeses show patterns similar to those of live records.
Therefore, instead of having a graph the square of each component wave amplitude in a
function of frequency, one can have a graph of the square of the rolling (or any other
motion) amplitude as frequency would produce. The resulting spectrum, as the pesponse
spectrum, will give similar statistical properties, when the proper statistical vectors are
applied, to those obtained in the case of a waves.
Amplitude Number Cumulative 1 x 2 1 x 2 for 1 x 2 for 1 x 2 for
of a roll of case number of one third one tenth one
[deg] case largest roll largest roll hundredth
amplitudes amplitudes largest roll
amplitudes
1 1 1 1
2 4 5 8
3 7 12 21
4 10 22 40
5 13 35 65
6 8 43 48
7 12 55 84
8 10 65 80
9 8 73 72 54
10 7 80 70 70
11 5 85 55 55
12 2 87 24 24
13 4 91 52 52 13
14 3 94 42 42 42
15 1 95 15 15 15
16 0 95 0 0 0
17 2 97 34 34 34
18 2 99 36 36 36
19 0 99 0 0 0
20 1 100 20 20 20 20
Sum2=100 Sum4=767 Sum5=402 Sum6=160 Sum7=20

Example 6.1
The rolling amplitudes (double, i.e, peak to peak) of a ship in an irregular seaway
were measured, and the results are presented in table 6.1. find the average, significant,
average of one-tenth largest, and average of one-hundredth highest rolling motions.
 Solution
From the measured rolling angles, in the table is instructed.
Average roll = = = 7,670

Surface (SUM2) = 33

Significant roll = = = 12,20

Similarly, (SUM2) = 10, therefore the average of the one-tenth highest rolls is

= = 160

Finally, (SUM2) = 1, therefore the average of the one-hundredth highest rolls is

= = 200

B. PREDICTION IN AN IRREGULAR SEAWAY

Ship motion in an irregular seaway is determined by means of the following steps :
1. For the particular seaway in which the vessel is to operate a suitable wave
spectrum is chosen.
2. Next the wave spectrum is transformed into a spectrum where the frequency of
encounter is considered, instead of the absolute wave frequency. However, the
area under the modified spectrum is the same as that under the original
spectrum, since the total energy remains the same.
3. A plot is obtained in of which the ordinates represent the amplitude of motion
(either pitch, roll , or heave) to a base of encountering frequency distributin.
 This can be obtained analytically or by experimentation with regular or
irregular wave in a tow tank.
4. The diagram obtained is step 3 is modified so that the ordinates represent the
ratio of the square of the motion amplitude divided by the square of the wave
amplitude. This diagram is termed the response amplitude operators (RAO) or
simply the transform spectrum.
5. The motion amplitude spectrum is obtained by multiplying the ordinates of the
transformed wave spectrum by the ordinates of the RAO for the corresponding
frequencies of encounter.
6. Finally, the area under the motion amplitude spectrum is determined in order
to obtain the necessary motion characteristics, as in the case of waves, using
the same formulation.
 Figure prediction of ship motion in an irregular seaway. (a) wave spectrum, (b)
encountering wave spectrum, (c) response in regular wave, (d) response amplitude
operators, (e) response spectrum

The linier technique for the prediction of ship responses provides a very useful means
for seakeeping design. The various step for the prediction of ship response by statistical
means as describe above will now be explained.
a. Step 1
A standard wave spectrum, like that of the ITTC, is selected for design
prediction of ship motion characteristic if no particular sea spectrum is to be
preferred.
b. Step 2
It is necessary to transform the wave spectrum obtained step 1 into the
spectrum that would be obtained by a wave meter moving with the ship, that
is, the wave spectrum should be recognized in terms of the frequencies of
encounter instead of the absolute frequencies. Thus the wave spectrum as
encountered by the ship is obtained.

Then the corresponding values of the ordinate, S(we) should be obtained

 Or, in terms of ww, as

c. Step 3
Showed how the ratio of rolling amplitude and wave amplitude against
encountering frequency can be obtained analytically for this particular case.
d. Step 4
The response amplitude operator are functions that given the amplitude of the
oscillating motion of the ship in a regular seaway of unit amplitude. Therefore
the RAOs are different for different kinds of motion.
It should be mentioned here that the RAOs can be determined either
analytically or by model test. In the latter case the models are run in regular
waves of different wavelengths but of constant wave amplitude.
e. Step 5. Ship Responses
The response of a vessel to any individual regular wave component is
alinier function of the amplitude of this component, and is assumed to
be response that would be experienced had the vessel been subjected to
a train of these same regular waves for a long time previously.
The response of a vessel to any individual wave component is
independent of its response to any other wave component.
f. Step 6
The significance of the motion spectrum is that it completely defines the
motion behavior of a ship in an irregular seaway. The information that can be
gained about waves from a wave spectrum can similarly be obtained for
motion from a motion spectrum.
Since the rms of motion/rms of wave ratio taken to be the same as amplitude
of motion/amplitude wave or the double amplitude of motion/double
amplitude of wave ratio.
Rms of motion =
=

The following remarks can be made regarding the energy spectrum method
When a particular seaway has a board range of component frequency,
the wave component that are long enough to produce appreciable
regular wave response.
Large responses are to be expected also from the important nearly
synchronous component.
C. EXTREME VALUE OF MOTION AMPLITUDE
For many random phenomena in the study of the seakeeping characteristic of ship, it
is of considerable importance to be able to predict the highest value an irregular
phenomenon that is expected to occur within a specifield periode of time.

That several maxima can occur during one cycle as defined by zero crossings. On the
other hand, the extreme value is defined as the largest value of the maxima that may occur
in an observation. In some cases it may be more meaningful to express the extreme value
in terms of time rather thanas a function of the number of obervations.