PREDICTION OF SEAKEEPING PERFORMANCE OF A SWATH SHIP AND COMPARISON WITH MEASUREMENTS

The seakeeping performance of a fast passenger/car SWATH ferry was predicted using a frequency domain model based on a strip theory that includes effects of forward speed on the hydrodynamic interaction between hulls. Predicted motions in harmonic waves at three different ship speeds were verified by comparative model test measurements and three-dimensional diffraction theory calculations. According to predictions, the fast SWATH ferry should have superior seakeeping characteristics in the southwestern Aegean Sea. Active stabilising fin control, however, may be indispensable to reduce ship motions in following stern waves to meet limiting seakeeping criteria.