Improving the comfort of a fast ferry

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of using controlled flaps and a T-foil to smoothen a ship's vertical motion while navigating in head seas. The study comprised two steps: to develop a tool for control design in the form of a computer-based simulation and to use this tool to develop satisfactory controllers. The simulation was based on mathematical models of the ship, the actuators, the waves and the seasickness effect. Since the actuators have limited action, there is a limited margin for improvement based on more sophisticated control strategies. Possible improvements of motion sickness incidence (MSI) are linked to a control strategy that exploits better synchronization with incident waves.