PHYSICAL TESTING OF RIGID HULL INFLATABLE BOAT AND MOTHER SHIP INTERACTIONS FOR LAUNCH AND RECOVERY SIMULATION VALIDATION

摘要

The LAURA JIP (LAUnch and Recovery system for Any small navy craft) is developing a naval Launch and Recovery (L&R) standard which will allow ships from various Navies to exchange small Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) with each other. It is vital that the safe operating limits of these L&R operations are fully understood. To support this understanding, a numerical modeling capability is being developed. The LAURA JIP will develop this numerical simulation capability through: (1) a hybrid simulation environment whereby the various aspects of the L&R process will be modeled using various numerical tools and (2) a time domain seakeeping program that appropriately accounts for the hydrodynamic interaction effects that occur during L&R evolutions, including the effect of the boat rope. To assist in the validation of these numerical tools, a series of scaled physical model tests have been undertaken. These tests include: (1) captive planar motion maneuvering tests of two different RHIBs, (2) towing tests of a RHIB in calm water and waves, with and without a lifting line, (3) captive and free sailing tests of a mother ship to measure the diffracted and radiated waves in close proximity to the mother ship as a function of wave and sailing conditions and (4) an extensive set of tests with a RHIB towed from the mother ship to record the motions of both vessels as well as tow line forces.