EVALUATION OF CREW TRANSFER VESSEL PERFORMANCE: NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS, ONBOARD MEASUREMENTS AND MODEL TESTS

摘要

Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) sail between local ports and offshore wind farms to transport maintenance technicians. To maximise wind turbine uptime weather dependent planning of maintenance trips is an important task. In this research, numerical simulations are performed to predict vessel motions and seasickness during transit trips. The numerical simulations are compared to onboard measurements and model tests. The comparison between onboard measurements and numerical predictions shows significant discrepancies. These differences originate from uncertainties in vessel properties and environmental conditions used as input for the numerical simulations. The comparison between model tests in controlled conditions and numerical simulations shows a much better agreement. This isolates the uncertainties in the numerical model. To assist in daily planning, it is recommended to increase the accuracy of input parameters to improve the quality of numerical motion and seasickness predictions. Furthermore it is recommended to apply onboard mitigation methods to increase comfort.