NONLINEAR ROLLING STABILITY AND CHAOS RESEARCH OF TRIMARAN VESSEL WITH VARIABLE LAY-OUTS IN REGULAR AND IRREGULAR WAVES UNDER WIND LOAD

Abstract

The trimaran vessel rolls strongly at low forward speed and may capsize in high sea conditions due to chaos and loss of stability, which is not usually considered in conventional limit-based criteria. In order to perfect the method of measuring roll performance of trimaran, a set of nonlinear roll motion stability analysis method based on Lyapunov and Melnikov theory was established. The nonlinear roll motion equation was constructed by CFD and high-order polynomial fitting method. The wave force threshold of rolling chaos in regular waves is calculated by Gauss-Legendre numerical integration method. The limited significant wave height of rolling chaos in random sea conditions is deduced by the phase space transfer rate, and the complex effect of wind load is superposed in the calculation. The influence of trimaran configuration on the roll system is analyzed through the state differentiation of homoclinic and heteroclinic orbit in phase portrait. The calculation of the maximum Lyapunov exponent further verified the applicability of Melnikov method, and the topological structure change of gradual failure of the rolling system is analyzed by the erosion of safe basin. The complex changes of the nonlinear damping coefficient and the nonlinear restoring moment coefficient caused by the change of the transverse lay-outs between the main hull and side hull have a significant influence on chaos and stability, and the existence of wind load has a certain weakening effect on the stability and symmetry of the system. The conclusion also further indicates the importance of the lay-outs to the dynamic stability of the trimaran vessel, which is significant for its seakeeping design.

Keywords

• trimaran
• nonlinear rolling stability
• transverse lay-outs
• melnikov function
• lyapunov exponent
• phase space transfer rate