Mathematical modeling of sway, roll and yaw motions: order-wise analysis to determine coupled characteristics and numerical simulation for restoring moment’s sensitivity analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates sway, roll and yaw motions of a floating body with the aim to determine coupled motion characteristics based on the order-wise analysis of hydrodynamic coefficients. To compute the hydrodynamic coefficients and wave force exerted on the floating body, we employ speed-dependent strip theory. The governing equations are solved analytically for linear restoring moment. For nonlinear restoring moment which is expressed as an odd-order polynomial of fifth degree in roll angle, we apply the Runge–Kutta–Gill method to solve the coupled equations. To investigate the effect of initial disturbances on sway, roll, yaw and speed of the body, numerical experiments have been carried out for a Panamax Container ship under the action of a sinusoidal wave of periodicity 11.2 s with varying wave height and speed. For the linear restoring moment, we first derive associated motion equations for various cases based on the relative magnitude of the hydrodynamic coefficients. The order-wise analysis leads to the classification of coupled characteristics exhibiting the nature of coupling. For the nonlinear restoring moment, we notice that the initial disturbance plays an important role in the ship’s stability. The effects of forward speed and variation in wave heights are illustrated through typical numerical experiments.