Motion control of a cruise ship by using active stabilizing fins

Abstract

The present study considers the motion control of a cruise ship by using active stabilizing fins. One or two pairs of stabilizing fins are equipped to reduce the roll and/or pitch motions of the cruise ship. Each fin is controlled by algorithms based on proportional–integral–derivative (PID) and linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control. Numerical analysis of the wave-induced motion of a cruise ship with stabilizing fins is carried out by using the time-domain ship motion program which has been developed through this study. The resultant motion response as the performance of each controller is compared between different control algorithms. Based on the present simulation results, the stabilizing fin can be considered a good instrument to reduce pitch motion as well as roll motion of the present cruise ship model. The present results show that the PID control algorithm, a simple but practical algorithm, can be an appropriate method to reduce the roll motion in a moderate sea state, while the LQG control algorithm shows good performance in reducing not only the roll motion but also the coupled roll and pitch motions simultaneously in all of environmental conditions considered.