Impact of direct seakeeping computation on ship Underwater Keel Clearance prediction

Abstract

The continuous increase in worldwide ship traffic poses relevant challenges on the management of the onboard safety during navigation and specific operations. Among these issues, navigation in relatively shallow water areas, being either channels or port areas, is of major interest especially when rough weather conditions occur due to the increased risk of grounding. Such a problem, which is deeply related to the seakeeping performance of a ship, can be tackled by different perspectives. In the present paper, the approach proposed by the PIANC recommendations, typically used to design port and channels areas and infrastructures, are analysed from the perspective of ship design hence dealing with its operability. In particular, the dynamic Underwater Keel Clearance (UKC) of a ship is studied based on direct seakeeping computations to assess the effect of the operability conditions in terms of sea states and ship speed at different wave encounter angles.