Design Enhancement to Avoid Radar Mast Resonance in Large Ship using Design of Experiments

Abstract

Recently, problems with excessive vibration of the radar masts of large bulk carriers and crude oil tankers have frequently been reported. This paper explores a design method to avoid the resonance of a radar mast installed on a large ship using various design of experiment (DOE) methods. A local vibration test was performed during an actual sea trial to determine the excitation sources of the vibration related to the resonant frequency of the radar mast. DOE methods such as the orthogonal array (OA) and Latin hypercube design (LHD) methods were used to analyze the Pareto effects on the radar mast vibration. In these DOE methods, the main vibration performances such as the natural frequency and weight of the radar mast were set as responses, while the shape and thickness of the main structural members of the radar mast were set as design factors. From the DOE-based Pareto effect results, we selected the significant structural members with the greatest influence on the vibration characteristics of the radar mast. Full factorial design (FFD) was applied to verify the Pareto effect results of the OA and LHD methods. The design of the main structural members of the radar mast to avoid resonance was reviewed, and a normal mode analysis was performed for each design using the finite element method. Based on the results of this normal mode analysis, we selected a design case that could avoid the resonance from the major excitation sources. In addition, a modal test was performed on the determined design to verify the normal mode analysis results.

Keywords

• Radar mast
• Resonance avoidance
• Design of experiments
• Normal mode analysis
• Sea trial test