An experimental study of the vertical stabilization control of a trimaran using an actively controlled T-foil and flap

Abstract

This study experimentally investigated a control method for the vertical stabilization of a trimaran. Experiments were conducted on a bare trimaran, a trimaran with fixed appendages, and one with actively controlled appendages. A T-foil and flap were selected as the stability appendages and installed on the vessel, whose dimension and installation position are provided. Next, the T-foil and flap were uncoupled, and the stabilization controller for motion reduction of the trimaran was designed on the basis of the idea of the resultant force and moment with Kalman filter (RFMD-K). Finally, the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the appendages and the proposed controller.