Seakeeping Analysis of Small Displacement High-Speed Vessels

Abstract

In developing designs for high speed vessels, the engineer must account for the response of the ship in the environment while operating at mission essential speeds. This thesis presents a seakeeping analysis of David Taylor Model Basin's Series 64 models scaled to a 2500-ton displacement using the SHIPMO and MATLAB software. It also discusses the current technology associated with high speed vessels (HSV's) and the relation to the US Navy. Series 64 models provided the benchmark for resistance data. To expand upon this well known series, this research develops seakeeping data trends for scaled-up models. SHIPMO allows the user to specify the ship's characteristics and the environmental conditions such as wave specifications and spectrum. Using the output files from SHIPMO, the MATLAB program designed during this thesis, produced contour plots for the models' response in pitch and heave. Seakeeping trends were observed based on the plots and further compared to calculations of the seakeeping rank, R, a formula originally developed by Nathan Bales. The results of the research can be used by engineers in application to the design of small displacement, high speed ships, both monohulls and multi-hulls.