Numerical Research on Global Ice Loads of Maneuvering Captive Motion in Level Ice

In level ice, the maneuvering motion of icebreakers has a major influence on the global ice loads of the hull. This study researched the influences of the drift angle and turning radius on the ice loads of the icebreaker Xue Long through a partial numerical method based on the linear superposition theory of ice loads. First, with reference to the Araon model tests performed by the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO), numerical simulations of Araon’s direct motion were carried out at different speeds, and the average deviation between numerical results and model test results was about 13.8%. Meanwhile, the icebreaking process and modes were analyzed and discussed, compared with a model test and a full-scale ship trial. Next, the maneuvering captive motions of oblique and constant radius were simulated to study the characteristics of ice loads under different drift angles and turning radii. Compared with the maneuvering motion model tests in the ice tank of Tianjin University and the Institute for Ocean Technology of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC/IOT), the numerical results had good agreement with the model test results in terms of the variation trend of ice loads and ice–hull interaction, and the influences of drift angle and turning radius on ice resistance and transverse force, which have a certain reference value for sailing performance research and the design of the hull form of icebreaker ships, are discussed.

An Iterative Phase Autofocus Approach for ISAR Imaging of Maneuvering Targets

Translational motion compensation and azimuth compression are two essential processes in inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. The anterior process recovers coherence between pulses, during which the phase autofocus algorithm is usually used. For ISAR imaging of maneuvering targets, conventional phase autofocus methods cannot effectively eliminate the phase error due to the adverse influence of the quadratic phase terms caused by the target’s maneuvering motion, which leads to the blurring of ISAR images. To address this problem, an iterative phase autofocus approach for ISAR imaging of maneuvering targets is proposed in this paper. Considering the coupling between translational phase errors and quadratic phase terms, minimum entropy-based autofocus (MEA) method and adaptive modified Fourier transform (MFT) are performed iteratively to realize better imaging results. In this way, both the translational phase error and quadratic phase terms induced by target’s maneuvering motion can be compensated effectively, and the globally optimal ISAR image is obtained. Comparison ISAR imaging results indicates that the new approach achieves stable and better ISAR image under a simple procedure. Experimental results show that the image entropy of the proposed approach is 0.2 smaller than the MEA method, which validates the effectiveness of the new approach.

Locally Weighted Non-Parametric Modeling of Ship Maneuvering Motion Based on Sparse Gaussian Process

This paper explores a fast and efficient method for identifying and modeling ship maneuvering motion, and conducts a comprehensive experiment. Through the ship maneuvering test, the dynamics interaction between ship and the environment is obtained. Then, the LWL (Locally Weighted Learning algorithm) underlying architecture is constructed by sparse Gaussian Process to reduce the data requirements of LWL-based ship maneuvering motion modeling and to improve the performance for LWL. On this basis, a non-parametric model of ship maneuvering motion is established based on the locally weighted sparse Gaussian Process, and the traditional mathematical model of ship maneuvering motion is replaced by the generative model. This generative model considers the hydrodynamic effects of ships, and reduces the sensitivity of local weighted learning to sample data. In addition, matrix operations are transferred to the auxiliary platform to optimize the calculation performance of the method. Finally, the simulation results of ship maneuvering motion indicate that this method has the characteristics of efficiency, rapidity and universality, and its accuracy conforms to engineering practice.

Cooperative Maneuvering Mathematical Modeling for Multi-tugs Towing a Ship in the Port Environment

The towing operation of multi-tug-assisted ship navigation mainly relies on the experience of the captain, and there is no set of effective operation methods. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve accurate assisted navigation when multiple tugboats work in coordination. The calculation method of maneuverability of the towing system with multi-tug-assisted navigation is proposed in this paper. In view of the complexity of multi-tug-assisted large ship maneuvering, this article focuses on solving the problems of force analysis and maneuvering modeling between the multi-tug and ship systems. Firstly, a maneuvering mathematic model for towing ships is established, and the hydrodynamic force of the hull, rope force of the tugs, and force of wind interference are analyzed. The thrust and moment of the ducted azimuthal propeller are calculated, and the mathematical model of the tug’s cable tension is discussed. Then, the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method is used to solve the differential equations of the maneuvering motion of the ships and each tug. Based on the ship-towing process by multiple tugs, a multi-tug-assisted ship towing simulation platform was built by using the Visual Studio development tool. Finally, on the simulation platform, multi-tug longitudinal-towing-simulation experiments at different speeds were carried out, and the simulation of turning towing maneuvers under the influence of wind was done. The simulation results showed that as the towing speed increases, the initial towing speed fluctuates greatly. There is a significant drift effect on the ships by the wind force. And the wind will cause a fluctuation in the tug’s rope force. The simulation of the multi-tugs towing a ship entering the port was carried out in the port environment. The results showed that the multi-tug towing system and simulation platform may be used for the safety training of the tug’s crew.