Roll stabilization by anti-roll passive tanks

Abstract

Since the most severe roll motion occurs at resonance (known as synchronous rolling), the best way of reducing it is to increase the damping. The most common means of doing so is by the installation of bilge keels. If more control is required, both anti-roll tanks and fins are used. Tanks have the advantage of being able to function when the ship is not underway. The use of tanks with liquid free surfaces for reducing roll motion of ships is an old idea. Many researchers have studied the design of anti-roll tanks. However, most of the past effort has concentrated on studying the performance of anti-roll tanks in damping the roll motion of the ship. Little attention has been paid to the fluid motion inside the tank itself. Another important issue is the tank tuning. Proper tuning of the anti-roll tank, to match the ship's natural frequency, is very important in reducing the roll motion. This paper concentrates on the most familiar type, which is the U-tube passive tank as a mechanical absorber of roll motion. A detailed study, covering tank damping, mass, location relative to the ship CG, and tuning, is presented. New suggestions and observations are stated concerning tank damping and tuning.