Five Papers On 'Ship Maneuvering And Control' Presented At SNAME New York Section Meeting During All-Day Session At USMMA, Kings Point

The New York Metropolitan Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers recently held an all-day meeting at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y., concerning various topics related to "Ship Maneuvering and Control." During the morning, a lowspeed ship maneuvering demonstration was given onboard the 143-foot oceangoing tug, the T.V.

Kings Pointer, using a recently installed Bird-Johnson Company bow thruster unit. Also during this time, tours of the Computer Aided Operations Research Facility (CAORF), and new diesel training facilities took place.

In the afternoon four technical papers were presented. The first, "Dynamic Behaviour of Ships During Transit in Harbors," by Dr. Haruzo Eda of Stevens Institute of Technology, and C. Lincoln Crane Jr. of Exxon International Co., was presented by Dr. Eda.

He described recently performed extensive studies on ship dynamic motions during transit in harbor areas, including a series of rotating- arm tests using models for tankers and a containership in deep and in various shallow-water areas; measurement of ship trajectory when tankers enter New York Harbor through Kill Van Kull to Bayway Terminal; computer simulation studies of ship dynamic motions during transit in harbors on the basis of these previously mentioned tests; a series of computer simulations to evaluate the maneuvering performance of various types of ships during transit in harbors under various environmental disturbances, such as wind and current; and an effort to correlate simulation results with actual ship trajectory measured during transit in New York Harbor.

The second paper, "Full Scale Tests of Thrusters on Dissimilar Vessels," by John A. Norton and Thomas A. Lambly of Bird- Johnson Company, was presented by Mr. Norton. He described tests for two very different vessels, one a large LNG tanker and the other an oceangoing tug, which were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of bow thrusters in lowspeed maneuvering. The test data was compared with previously published information. Measured turning circles were shown for low-speed operations with rudder alone, thruster alone, and both rudder and thruster on one of the vessels, and various factors affecting thruster performance for low-speed maneuvering were discussed.

The third paper, "Man-in-the- Loop Control: Instrumentation and Aids to Navigation, Old and New," by Dr. Kent E. Williams (Mara-Time Marine Services Corp.), William Mcllroy (Grumman Data Systems), and Dr.

Walter M. Maclean (National Maritime Research Center) was presented by Dr. Williams. He discussed the general characteristics of the man-in-the-loop ship control problem and the effects of instrumentation and other aids to navigation on safety, precision, and efficiency of shiphandling under the harbor approach and restricted waterway conditions. The availability, a c c e s s i b i l i t y , and processing of navigational behavior were presented and discussed in terms of the research approach utilized at the National Maritime Research Center using CAORF.

The parameters of concern included types of information displayed, cognitive work load, shipboard navigational aids (buoys and other fixed references), and personnel qualifications.

The fourth paper, "On The Development of Design Criteria for Collision Resistance," was authored and presented by Richard J. Burke. He first discussed the phenomena which occur during the collision, and the analytical methods for predicting the loads imposed on and the energies absorbed by ships' structures during collision. This was then followed by a discription of a probabilistic basis for measuring collision resistance, with a rationale for using such measures. In conclusion, a description of how a design standard for collision protection using the technology could be developed using analytical methods and probabilistic approaches.

In the evening, dinner was served at the Officers Club, and a fifth technical paper titled "Professional Liability as it Relates to the Naval Architect/Marine Engineer and Other Maritime Professionals," by George F. Chandler I I I of Bigham, Englar, Jones and Houston. Among the topics discussed by the author were the practical explanation of what professional liability entails, reasons for the increase of lawsuits in this area, differences in liability with reference to commercial versus consumer cases and property damage versus personal injury cases, the leading cases affecting the professional with examples of how they might relate to common problems found in naval architecture/ marine engineering, typical defenses available to defendents, dangers inherent in these lawsuits, such as large legal and expert expenses and disruption of business activities, insurance coverage as to types and availability including alternatives, categories of monetary damages, limitation and indemnity clauses, protection of assets, and recommendations for the evaluation of one's own business practices.

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