THE EFFECT OF MUD ON TANKER MANOEUVRES

In 1976 the Netherlands Ministry of Transport and Public Works ordered the Netherlands Ship Model Basin to investigate the effect of a layer of mud on the bottom of channels on the maneuvering characteristics of a deep draft tanker. After a chemical was found which represented on model scale the properties of the mud a model test program was carried out for a number of variations of mud layer thickness, mud density, keel clearance and ship speed. Planar motion mechanism tests resulted in the development of mathematical models and the calculation of standard maneuvers for the different conditions with mud and, as a reference, one condition without mud.