Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günther Clauss, Dr. rer. nat. Janou Hennig

Encountering a rogue wave remains one of the most horrible visions for a ship master. Until now the mechanisms which underlie large rolling and subsequent capsizing due to a rogue wave or unfavorable wave combinations are only partly disclosed. The evaluation of modern ship designs is even more complicated since they react differently to formerly identified extreme situations.

In the framework of the German three years research project SinSee five specialist partners cooperate at the hydrodynamic analysis of wave-structure interaction including the generation of design-based wave scenarios. The achieved results are applied to the evaluation of ship safety during the design process, and on- board monitoring systems are developed. The TUB project part deals with the improvement of non-linear techniques for the generation of tailored waves and realistic wave scenarios in a model tank. Using a sophisticated and accurate capsizing test procedure five different ship types are investigated under realistic conditions at HSVA . Optical motion measurements as well as the non-linear wave transformation techniques allow the correlation of wave excitation and ship motions as a cause- reaction chain: The measured wave train is calculated at the sailing ship in the moving reference frame.

All data and investigation results are documented in a data base system which is also used for the training of neural networks in order to get new insights into the mechanisms of large rolling and capsizing of ships and offshore structures.

Projektpartner: Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Flensburger Schiffbaugesellschaft, Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsantalt, OceanWaves

Förderung: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Laufzeit: 01.09.2002 - 31.08.2008