Implementation of Open Source

Code for 6 Degrees of Freedom

Simulations in Maritime
Applications
Felipe Ferrari de Oliveira

25-01-2019

Research Report
Ship Design and Operation Lab.
Deparment of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering
Norwegian University of Science and Technology,

Supervisor: Prof. Henrique M. Gaspar

 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

Contents

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Non Linear Modeling of Marine Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 The Newtonian approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Definition of Skew-Symmetric Matrix Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Rigid-Body Inertia Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4 Rigid-Body Coriolis and Centripetal Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 Add Mass Inertia Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Wave-Induced Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1 Heave force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Roll moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Pitch moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4 Mooring Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.1 Free Vessel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.2 Wave incidence and mooring line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

List of Figures

1 Coodinate System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Mooring arrangement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3 Main application page for free body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4 Free body configuration table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Main application page for mooring/wave simulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6 Mooring/wave configuration table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

1 Introduction

The development of computer processing, digital capacity storage increasing , and fast commu-
nication between users and sensors are responsible for challenging most of the current industries
from a wide range of areas such as health, chemical, and transports. Those changes have the poten-
tial to transform the way humans are connected with themselves and their facilities in a tremendous
way that is affirmed by specialists as a spark for new technological revolution. This event is coa-
lesced with the end of third industrial revolution, which at late 20th century brought automation
and personal computers to shape the way we produce goods and interact with each other. This
forth revolution however is a step ahead changing the interaction between physical, digital, and
biological world.
For naval operators exists a wide range of new technological improvements to be devised in
practically all life cycle of a ship. During the design phase, it is possible to rely on immense amount
of data from sensors in the environment, previous ships characteristics, and huge amount of market
data in order to produce innovative solutions. On construction yards it is possible to acquire details
faster from designers, have real time compliance monitoring, and improve the track of all elements
in field. In the operational spectrum, it is possible to monitor the stress in its components to have
a precise time for maintenance, and track cargo in order to ensure their quality and plan the port
operation. Those are just a thin spectrum from what are being developed in naval area and its
applications followed by the new revolution is increasing.
In this scenario we can trace a perspective for the implementation of digital simulations special-
ized to marine operations. The main objective is once assumed known the mains hydrodynamics
coefficients we can input external forces to simulate ship behavior for a specific type of event. The
results from preliminary simulation could then be used to design the specific vessel and later can
be refined by comparing simulation output results with those produced by sensors monitoring the
real ship, therefore, creating an improved virtual simulation to be used in further application. The
concept of using digital data recorded from sensors in a real ship to engineering analyses is the
main concept of twin ship that is an application on marine context of the concept named "Internet
of Things" (IoT).
This project aims to construct an open digital software that can be the basis for simulation of free
body marine operations, this software will be integrated to vessels.js library and can be used with
no need of extra software installation, once the only one software required are browsers which is
offered for free. The idea is constructing a code that can be the basis for simulation of a broad type
of marine applications, just requiring the introduction of main hydrodynamic coefficients. In this
way the program will be a good basis for twin ship application with applicability and compatibility,
which are good points for this type of operation.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

This report will introduce the physical equations inserted in the code that governs ship dynami-
cal movement which relies mainly on the development introduced by [1]. The idea is extending to
3D environment the visualization provided by [2]. After the construction of digital basis it will be
provided an application where the user can introduce a movement in sway, roll, or pitch to follow
the behavior of the ship in a free movement.
Two situations to check the consistency of code will be provided. The first is behavior in a steady
wave sea, this simulation will use the analytical formulas introduced by [3] to input the forces due
wave action. The second simulation is mooring behavior using a quasi-static model based on the
equations presented in [4].The system of equations are solved using the Dormand-Prince method
implemented in the Numeric.js library [5], which allows to calculate the position and velocities of
the rigid body for each time step, therefore simulating the ship movement over time. All code is
free for access and implementations in [6].
In conclusion is discussed the good points, problems, and improvement suggestions for this
project.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

2 Non Linear Modeling of Marine Vehicles

This chapter will introduce the main equations used for free body simulation that were first
developed by [1]. The project uses following notation to identify each degree of freedom:

Forces and Body-fixed Inertial Position

DOF Movements Moments Velocities and Euler Angles
1 Motions in the x-direction (surge) X u x
2 Motions in the y-direction (sway) Y v y
3 Motions in the z-direction (heave) Z w z
4 Rotation about the x-direction (roll) K p φ
5 Rotation about the y-direction (pitch) M q θ
6 Rotation about the z-direction (yaw) N r ψ

Table 1: 6 DOF motion components for a marine vehicle.

This variables can be organized in vectors by grouping per magnitudes, derivatives and forces:

η = [η1T , η2T ]T ; η1 = [x, y, z]T ; η2 = [φ, θ, ψ]T

ν = [ν1T , ν2T ]T ; ν1 = [u, v, w]T ; ν2 = [p, q, r]T

τ = [τ1T , τ2T ]T ; τ1 = [X, Y, Z]T ; τ2 = [K, M, N ]T

2.1 The Newtonian approach

Consider a ship with total mass equals m, the rigid body motion regarding to a body-fixed
rotation reference frame [x0 , y0 , z0 ] with a origin O must follow the second Newton’s law of motion:

m[ν̇1 + ν2 × rg + ν2 × (ν2 × rg )] = τ1 (2.1)

I0 .ν̇2 + ν2 × (I0 .ν2 ) + m.rg × (ν̇1 + ν1 × ν1 ) = τ2 (2.2)

Where rg is the ship center of gravity represented by the vector [xg ; yg ; zg ]T and I0 is the inertia
tensor with respect to the origin O of the body-fixed reference frame:
 
Ix −Ixy −Ixz
∆
I0 = −Iyx Iy −Iyx  (2.3)
−Izx −Izy Iz

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

The inertia matrix have Ixy = Iyx , Ixz = Izx and Iyz = Izy characteristics for products of inertia
due symmetry. The Equations 2.1 and 2.2 can be expressed in a more compact form as:

MRB .ν̇ + CRB (ν).ν = τRB (2.4)

The MRB is the rigid-body inertia matrix and CRB is Coriolis and Centripetal matrix. Before
introducing each element inside those two matrices it is necessary to define the skew-symmetric
operator responsible for notation simplification.

2.2 Definition of Skew-Symmetric Matrix Operator

∆
Let S(·) be a Skew-Symmetric matrix operator defined such that the vector cross product a × b =
S(a).b, that is:
 
0 −a3 a2
S(a) =  a3 0 −a1  , S(a) = −S T (a) (2.5)
−a2 a1 0

2.3 Rigid-Body Inertia Matrix

The rigid-body inertia matrix MRB can be uniquely determined from 2.1 and 2.2, that is:
 
∆m.ν̇1 + m.ν̇2 × rg
MRB .ν̇ = (2.6)
I0 .ν̇2 + m.rg × ν̇1
T
From this expression the positive inertia matrix is MRB = MRB > 0 can be defined according
to:

 
m 0 0 0 m.zg −m.yg

 0
  m 0 −m.zg 0 m.xg 
m.I3x3 −m.S(rg )  0 0 m m.yg −m.xg 0   (2.7)
MRB = =
m.S(rg ) I0  0
 −m.zg m.yg Ix −Ixy −Ixz 
 m.zg 0 −m.xg −Iyx Iy −Iyz 
−m.yg m.xg 0 −Izx −Izy Iz

2.4 Rigid-Body Coriolis and Centripetal Matrix

The Coriolis and centripetal matrix can be calculated by the following formulation:
 
03x3 −m.S(ν1 ) − m.S(ν2 ).S(rg )
CRB = (2.8)
−m.S(ν1 ) + m.S(rg ).S(ν2 ) −S(I0 .ν2 )
T
The matrix CRB (ν) = −CRB (ν) is skew-symmetrical. Consider for this project that crossed
inertias are all equal zero due geometry symmetry and the center of gravity is located on midship

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

section (xg , yg ) = (0, 0), it is possible write the matrix in component form according to:

 
0 0 0 m.zg .r m.w −m.v

 0 0 0 −m.w m.zg .r m.u  
 0 0 0 −m.(zg p − v) −m.(zg q + u) 0 
CRB =
−m.zg .r
 (2.9)
 m.w m.(zg p − v) 0 Iz .r −Iy .q 

 −m.w −m.zg .r m.(zg r + u) −Iz .r 0 Ix .p 
m.v −m.u 0 Iy .q −Ix .p 0

2.5 Add Mass Inertia Matrix

The add mass matrix uses the following notation defined by [7]:

∂Y
YV̇ = (2.10)
∂ V̇
Which Y is the force in a certain direction due to add mass effect and V is the velocity component
on the correspondent direction. Considering the application has a low frequency effect, we can
assume MA as independent from wave frequency, therefore, we can MA would be constant and
strictly positive. The added mass matrix can be assumed as:

MA = −diag{Xu̇ , Yv̇ , Zẇ , Kṗ , Mq̇ , Nṙ } (2.11)

The Coriolis added mass matrix can be represented by:
 
0 0 0 0 −Zẇ .w Yv̇ .v
 0 0 0 Zẇ .w 0 Xu̇ .u 
 
 0 0 0 −Yv̇ .v Xu̇ .u 0 
CA =   (2.12)
 0
 −Zẇ .w Yv̇ .v 0 −Nṙ .r Mq̇ .q 
 Zẇ .w 0 −Xu̇ .u Nṙ .r 0 −Kṗ .p
−Yv̇ .v Xu̇ .u 0 −Mq̇ .q Kṗ .p 0
Assumed that external forces and moments can be represented by F , using 2.4 we can assure
the derivative of position by:

[J(η2 ).F − (CRB (η) + CA (η)).η − J(η2 ).D(η).η − J(η2 ).g(η)]

ν̇ = (2.13)
MRB + MA
The matrix D(η2 ) is the damping of movement while g(η) includes the weight force and grav-
itational moments. The matrix J(η2 ) represents the transformation of coordinates between a fixed
coordinate system to a moving one:

η̇ = J(η2 ).ν (2.14)

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

where J(η2 ) = diag{J1 (η2 ), J2 (η2 )}, let c() = cos(), s() = sin(), and t() = tan() be the trigono-
metric operators:
     
cψ sψ 0 cθ 0 −sθ 1 0 0
J1 (η2 ) = −sψ cψ 0 .  0 1 0  . 0 cφ sφ (2.15)
0 0 1 sθ 0 cθ 0 −sφ cφ
 
1 sφ.tθ cφ.tθ
J2 (η2 ) = 0 cφ −sφ  (2.16)
0 sφ/cθ cφ/cθ
The equation 2.13 is fundamental to use in Dormand-Prince method implemented in the Nu-
meric.js library [5] because it gives the derivatives that is necessary for approximation methods.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

3 Wave-Induced Loads

The following chapter will define analytical equations introduced by [3] to describe the forces
and moments induced by wave. The author uses strip theory principle that approximates the ship
geometry by constant 2D cross-section shape along the length, this approximation become efficiency
for Mississippi barge-box geometry, therefore this vessel type was chosen to ease the approxima-
tions. For consistency, the notation of forces will be the same as those presented in chapter 2.
Defining FW as the force and moments acting on ship due to wave incidence:

FW = [0, 0, FW33 , FW44 , FW55 , 0] (3.1)

Which FW33 represents the force in heave direction and FW44 and FW55 represents the moments
in roll and pitch.

3.1 Heave force

Assume the force acting from the water can be written per length for heave direction as:

fW33 = −a33 .v̇ − b33 .v − c33 .z (3.2)

The vertical restoring force −c33 .z is due to the change of displacement. If the main dimensions
are L, B, D and T then c33 must be:

c33 = ρ.g.B (3.3)

The dynamic forces are caused due to the acceleration and velocity of the body associated with
the forced oscillatory motion of the ambient water. The a33 is the "added mass" coefficient and is a
function of the frequency of oscillation due to the evanescent waves and degree of resonance. Co-
efficient b33 is called the damping or radiation coefficient. All of the three coefficients are described
in terms of length, therefore, they must be multiplied by water line length before introduced in the
matrices of damping and added masses in Equation 2.11.
According to [8] the constant added mass can be approximated for a33 = ρ.g.B.T , with aston-
ishingly good result, and a somewhat more complicated closed-form expression for b33 .

ρ.g 2 .A2
b33 = (3.4)
ω 3 .α3
Where the coefficient A is:

ω 3 .B ω 2 .T
   
A = 2. sin .exp − (3.5)
2.g g

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

For validation of the above equations it is necessary to use the assumption of small-body approx-
imation B < λ/4. Therefore the force in heave direction can be calculated by using the following
formula:
Z L
2  
−kT 2 −j.ω.t
FW33 = a.e .(ρ.g.B − ω .a33 − j.ω.b33 ).e ej.k.(cos(θh )x) .dx (3.6)
−L
2

Where θh is the heading angle according to waves direction. The integral is solved separately as:
Z L
2   sin(k.(cos(θh )).L/2)
ej.k.(cos(θ)x) .dx = 2. (3.7)
−L
2
k. cos θh
Which is also valid for beam sea θh = π/2, because when cos(θh ) → 0 we have:

sin(k.(cos(θh )).L/2)
2. =L (3.8)
k. cos θh
That is, in beam sea the wave-excited force on the 3-D ship will be equal two dimensional
wave-excited force multiplied by the length of the ship.

3.2 Roll moment

Neglecting the couplings to heave and pitch motions it is possible to describe roll moment acting
on the ship as:

FW44 = −A44 .ṗ − B44 .p − C44 .φ (3.9)

The linear static restoring moment −C44 .φ is due to change of the displacement shape and the
vertical position of the static center of buoyancy in relation to the center of gravity of the ship. It
can be equated as:

1 3
C44 = ρ.g.V.(zB − zg ) + ρ.g.L. .B = ρ.g.V.GMT (3.10)
12
For a ship, the magnitude order of the added moment of inertia is only 10 to 20% of ship mass
moment of inertia, in this project it will be used the value of 15% for this approximation. Thus:

A44 = 0.15.I4 (3.11)

To have an approximate value of the roll moment of inertia one can use the fact the radius of
inertia in roll i4 is of the order of 0.4.B, where B is the beam of the ship, and thus:

I4 ≈ 0.16.ρ.V.B 2 (3.12)
Where CB = V /(B.L.T ) is the block coefficient and V is the displacement.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

For damping in roll [8] could not find simple closed-form solutions for the sectional radiation
damping, b44 . Therefore, the reference determines 2-D potential coefficients using the Frank close-
fit method, for a range of B/T ratios both for triangular and rectangular sections. He then fitted
parametric curves, linear in B/T , through the results:
s       
b44 B B B ωe .s −1.3  ωe .s d(B/T )
. =a .exp b . . (3.13)
ρ.Ac .B 2 2.g T T rad rad

B44 = L.b44 (3.14)

Where Ac is the cross-sectional area of the submerged part . For rectangular cross-sections, such
as used in this project, the functions a(·), b(·), and d(·) became:

 a(B/T ) = −3.94.B/T + 13.69
b(B/T ) = −2.12.B/T − 1.89 (3.15)
d(B/T ) = 1.16.B/T − 7.97


This equations are valid in a range of 1 ≤ B/T ≤ 3. The [8] proposed to set the total damping

T OT CRIT
B44 = B44 + ζ.B44 (3.16)
The ζ can be found according to a table in [3]. The lack of attachment from models to reality on
certain range of heading makes the use of ζ factor not ideal, therefore, the table with ζ values will
not be reproduced here and the critical effect is considered irrelevant for B44 calculation.
The moment along our box can be described by:
r
ρ.g 2 2. sin(θ) j.ω.t
FW44 = a. .b44 . .e . {sin(k(cos(θ).L/2))} (3.17)
ω k. cos(θ)
Because θ → π/2 gives sin {k. cos(θ).L/2} → k. cos(θ).L/2 equation Equation 3.17 is also valid
in the limit for beam sea as:
r
ρ.g 2
FW44 = a. .b44 .L.(sin(θ)).e−j.ω.t (3.18)
ω

3.3 Pitch moment

Neglecting the heave motion, we can describe the equation:

FW55 = −A55 .q̇ − B55 .q − C55 .θ (3.19)

For box-like geometry the coefficients A55 and B55 are related to coefficients in heave direction:

1 3
A55 = a33 . .L (3.20)
12

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

1 3
B55 = b33 . .L (3.21)
12

1 3
C55 = ρ.g.V.(zB − zG ) + ρ.g.B.
.L = ρ.g.B.GML (3.22)
12
The moment in pitch can be described similarly to Equation 3.6, except, for the integral term:
Z L
2  
C55 = a.e−kT .(ρ.g.B − ω 2 .a33 − j.ω.b33 ).e−j.ω.t ej.k.(cos(θh )x) .x.dx (3.23)
−L
2

The integral was solved as:

Z L     
2   2.j L L L
ej.k.(cos(θh )x) .x.dx = . sin k.(cos(θ). − k. cos(θ). . cos k. cos(θ).
−L
2
(k. cos(θh ))2 2 2 2
(3.24)

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

4 Mooring Lines

This chapter will introduce the mooring modeled in [4] using the quasi-static response. This
model uses only the static behavior of the catenary mooring line with part of its length relied on
the bottom of ocean, the model also consider only traction forces are applied to the line, which act
along the tangent. The line does not resist compression nor shear forces or bending moments. The
others geometry types for mooring like tensor lines and semi-catenary will not be implemented for
this project, therefore, the model will not consider any force on line after passing the condition from
border catenary to semi-catenary geometry. The configuration of mooring is illustrated in Figure 1:

Figure 1: Part of the line lying on the sea floor. The origin of system is the touchdown point of mooring line.
xa ≤ 0 represents the horizontal distance from the anchor point and zh = h ≥ 0 represents the height of
attraction point. Reference [4]

For the following formulation the system of coordinates is defined that x-axis is horizontal,
pointing to the right and Z-axis is vertical, pointing upwards for this purpose all the forces will be
calculated with all elements are contained in (x, z) plane. The arc length from the origin to the hull
attachment point is s, considering the total length of mooring line as l:

xa = l − s (4.1)

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

The following equations governs the line geometry and forces:

 x  
h
h = a. cosh −1 (4.2)
a
x 
h
s = a. sinh (4.3)
a
Where a is defined as:

H
a= (4.4)
w
Witch H is the horizontal force acting in the ship and w is the linear density of mooring line:

V = w.s (4.5)
Where V is the maximum vertical force component along the line. This project will not count any
safety coefficient analysis, however, for further projects it would be possible to assure the mooring
line safety by using the maximum traction value calculated by Equation 4.6 and comparing it to
maximum traction force allowed for mooring material:

T = w.z + H (4.6)
Because horizontal force H and suspended length s are both in principle considered unknown,
the system of equations are not at first glance resolvable, however applying the equation for d:

xa = d − xh (4.7)
Uniting the Equations 4.1 and 4.7 we have:

l − s + xh − d = 0 (4.8)
Substituting s for the element presented in Equation 4.3 we get:
x 
h
l − a. sinh + xh − d = 0 (4.9)
a
Now we find out a equation that has two undefined variables related with each other: a and xh .
Knowing the attachment point and therefore the distance h we can rewrite the Equation 4.3:

h x 
h
+ 1 = cosh
a a
 
h
xh = a. cosh−1 +1 (4.10)
a

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

Finally the Equation 4.9 can be written in terms of Equation 4.10 by:
    
h h
l − a. sinh cosh−1 +1 + a. cosh−1 + 1 − d = 0 = f (a) (4.11)
a a
The solution of the Equation 4.11 gives the only possible a that will attend the configuration for
(h, d, l) known. The library [5] will be used to find out the zero of f .
The force must be projected on coordinate system of the ship based on line direction. Consider
the distance between anchoring point on seabed high enough such as yaw movement do not inter-
fere in moments formulations. Let α and β be the angles between mooring line in the surge and
heave direction respectively and (dx , dy , dz ) the distances between mooring points on ship to the
origin of coupled coordinate system on each direction respectively.

H3 H2

α3 α2

Vessel Model

α4 α1

H4 H1

Figure 2: Vessel configuration scheme, top view.

For arrangement, it will be used four mooring lines attached to the extremity of vessel. Each
point have a angle and horizontal and vertical forces with an index marked on it such as shown in
Figure 2. The following formula represents the forces acting on the free body due mooring system:

FM = [FM11 , FM22 , FM33 , FM44 , FM55 , FM66 ] (4.12)

4
X
FM11 = (g.Hi . cos(αi )) (4.13)
n=1

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

4
X
FM22 = (g.Hi . sin(αi )) (4.14)
n=1

4
X
FM33 = (g.Vi ) (4.15)
n=1

4
X
FM44 = (g.Hi . sin(αi ).dz + g.Vi .dy) (4.16)
n=1

4
X
FM55 = (g.Hi . cos(αi ).dz + g.Vi .dx) (4.17)
n=1

4
X
FM66 = (g.Hi . sin(αi ).dx + g.Hi . cos(αi ).dy) (4.18)
n=1

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

5 Results

5.1 Free Vessel

The free body model can be accessed in [9] and are based only on the formulation presented in
Chapter 2 with no external forces inserted. The geometry chosen was a Mississippi barge model to
ease the hydrodynamic coefficients calculation. The main dimensions of the vessel are:

LW L = 42.00m BW L = 8.00m T = 3.00m D = 4.00m Cb = 1

The vessel used was not designed based on any operational purpose and its dimensions were
chosen just to attend the specification of Equation 2.13, and can be easily transformed in variables
or modified for different purposes. Others types of structures like ocean platforms and floating wind
generators can be inputed to the code in order to evaluate its behavior on sea. An main view of the
application is shown in Figure 3 as follow:

Figure 3: Main application page. The source can be accessed at [9].

We can zoom in the controls panel as presented in Figure 4 and discuss each one of the variables
and their change effects:
1. Playback:
• play/pause: pauses or restart the simulation from the paused condition.
• stop: stop completely the simulation.
2. Initial State:

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

• heave: set the heave position to the value.

• roll: set the roll angle to the value.
• pitch: set the pitch angle to the value.
3. Damping Coefficients:
• C_D: set the damping on linear directions (surge, sway, and heave) per projected area of
vessel in the respective direction.
• B_44: set the damping on roll movement B44 .
• B_55: set the damping on pitch movement B55 .
• fullness: percentage of tanks total capacity fulled B55 .

Figure 4: Main application page. The source can be accessed at [9].

It is possible to notice the decay of movement when one initial state is changed, behaving like
expected for a real model indicating an attachment to reality. However, it is important to point
out some misrepresentations that were taken in order to simplify mathematical calculation and
minimize computational time. For instance, the restoring moment for roll and pitch is calculated
based on box geometry for small angles, which defines Mr = m.GM. sin(φ) ≈ m.GM.φ, therefore
the movement is overestimated for the high angles allowed for this application. Second, the coupled
movement between pitch and roll can result in a different results for BM than square section
calculated by BM = L.B 3 /12.
Although those approximations, the model behave realistically , mainly for small angles of pitch
and roll. A more elaborated code would be produced for further projects involving dynamical be-
havior in order to achieve a better attachment to reality.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

5.2 Wave incidence and mooring line

Wave incidence and mooring line application is available on [10], and differently from the one
presented on Section 5.1 the external forces are different of zero, representing wave force and
mooring lines according to the principles introduced on Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. A main view of
the application is shown in Figure 5 as follow:

Figure 5: Main application page. The source can be accessed at [10].

Over again we can zoom in the controls panel as exhibit in Figure 6. Most of variables are similar
to presented ones in the Free Vessel application, therefore, just the ones that were not introduced
before will be discussed deeper:
1. Ocean:
• A: Wave amplitude.
• T: Period of steady wave.
• L: Wave length.
• theta: Wave direction according to a global system of coordinates.
• phi: Initial phase angles.
2. Initial State:
• surge: set the surge position to the value.
• sway: set the sway position to the value.
• yaw: set the yaw angle to the value.
Damping coefficients values introduced by users are just applied on the null wave amplitude
condition. When the amplitude is set a value the damping coefficients are calculated by Chapter 3
formulations.
Some convergence problems were found in steady wave condition. Those errors can be derived

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

Figure 6: Main application page. The source can be accessed at [10].

from the assumptions necessary for implementation such as irrelevant damping critical effects and
the non coupling movement between pitch and heave. In relation to critical damping it is possible to
notice an increasing in the amplitude for roll angles in the long run, this seems to be an indication
that the damping on roll are underrated. A further investigation would be necessary to introduce a
better value for damping in order to get a fair value for each attack angle. Other problem related
to wave model is it does not account for the sudden ocean shape modification, which in some
cases can produce a ship that seems like levitating on the space, however in practice those sudden
modifications does not exist and are mitigated after the transition period.
The mooring line model, for the other hand, have a good attachment to reality. All assumptions
used for model construction does not interfere on the convergence method, regarding specifically
for assumption yaw angles does not influence on mooring system force projections it seems to
behave well even when the angle of yaw is greater than 10 degree. A closer look in the attachment
point of mooring line to the hull could identify a disunion between line and hull, this problem must
be investigated but it does not gives any change on vessel movement outputs.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

6 Conclusion

The project was able to achieve the main goal for introducing an environment for free dynam-
ical movement simulation with minor convergence errors. It presented a reasonable movement
decay regarding to dissipation in free body condition, indicating a good attachment to reality. Also,
external forces produced the effects expected in the ship.
Wave incidence effect has shown some problems regarding convergence of method that can be
attributed to assumptions used for implementing the formulations. Those imprecisions can be over-
came by searching or developing other equations that are better representation of reality and that
accounts for coupling movements between pitch and heave. Regarding to the null critical damping
assumption, an interpolation function can be construct based on the table presented in [3], this
function however must consider the points where the reference over predict or underrate the re-
sults what can makes this method subjective if not relied on physical models. Wave also could get its
amplitude increased in small steps in order to avoid sudden effects and outputting a more realistic
effect. The forces is also determined by wave geometry and not by vessel position, therefore, when
introducing the mooring force it would also effect the wave force magnitude but this model does
not account for this effect.
Mooring line application have great results for four lines configuration. The yaw movement
can also be inserted in projection equation to achieve a more realistic simulation, even those, this
configuration already outputs great results without this improvement. In practice, others mooring
operations can be simulated like docked ship on pier and ship to ship operations. The lines arrange-
ment also can be easily changed in order to compare different types of configurations to find the
model that best suits the operation purpose. Minor effects was evidenced by disclosure between
anchoring point and vessel, however, this would be easily solved in a deeper investigation on the
objects coordinate system and do not have major effects related to dynamical movement.
The usage for future works applications are immense. It is possible to insert more user interac-
tion by allowing the user to click on the elements and get informations regarding to this specific
component like tension or angular velocity for example, this improvement would benefit the us-
age in twin ship operations in the future. Different geometries can be applied to simulate distinct
types of operations like loading and unloading of offshore platforms, port operations or ocean wind
generators behavior.
Validation allowance also could be an important step to be implemented in the future. The user
should be able to get back a data sheet or graphics regarding the simulation that would help to
validate the specific model. This data could be compared to outputted simulation in real model or
analytical formulations for example helping engineering decisions.

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 Simulation of 6 Degrees of Freedom Program for Maritime Applications

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