On the Application of Continuous Variable Structure System to Ship Steering in Restricted Waters

Abstract In this paper, based on the computation of the asymmetric forces acting on a ship in the proximity of arbitrary shaped bank with a numerical method, a kind of Continuous Variable Structure System is investigated for ship’s path control in restricted waters to get satisfied accuracy »strong robustness, and in particular, to prevent the chattering or frequently back-and-forth steering which occurs in the application of traditional Variable Structure System to ship steering. Simulation results based on the numerical computation show that expected ship responses can be obtained easily.