CAPSIZING EXPERIMENTS WITH A MODEL OF A FAST CARGO LINER IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY

A program of model testing in the open waters of San Francisco Bay is described in the report. This program has, as its objective, the study of ship motion problems including capsizing and control performance in a heavy seaway. The equipment, testing techniques, and data acquisition and processing are described. Some preliminary results from simple statistical analyses of the data are also given. Observations of the behavior of a model of the AMERICAN CHALLENGER class of cargo ships have enabled three categories of capsizing to be distinguished: low cycle resonance, pure loss of stability, and broaching. All three modes are strongly influenced by the reduction of the ship's stability when a wave crest is amidships, and all are most likely to occur in a following to quartering seaway.