CONSTRUCTION OPERATION AND CAPABILITIES OF THE N.S.M.B. SHIP MANOEUVRING SIMULATOR

Since half December 1970 the Netherlands Ship Model Basin has put in operation a facility to simulate the manoeuvring of surface ships. The description of the simulator has already been given in reference (1) and (2). These descriptions have been presented at times that the simulator still was in the stage of design and construction. The programs which have been carried out on the simulator up to now have shown that the simulation is very close to reality. This can be concluded from the fact that mariners act perfectly in the same way as they would on board a ship at sea. The way of simulation has been initiated by the institute of perception R.V.O.-T.N.O.-I.Z.F. at Soesterberg which institute continues to advise the Netherlands Ship Model Basin in studies in which the human behaviour plays an important role. It was only since a few years ago that it became obvious that the manoeuvrability of ships could be limited by human aspects. Before that time it was thought that, by training, the human possibilities could ever be increased to handle ships in any difficult situation. Underlined by some serious accidents it became more and more obvious that the human abilities were limited and even could fail. Some obvious limitations are: 1. One is not able to anticipate over very long time intervals (an electronic navigation aid like a course or position predictor then can be of help). 2. One is not able to detect a very small change in position (an electronic navigation aid like a rate of turn indicator then can be of help). 3. One is not able to determine exactly how much rudder angle is needed to correct the position of the ship because one is not able to discern to which degree a change in ship's position has been caused by a rudder angle or by other influences such as wind, current or disturbances of the compass or other electronic position indicators. These considerations all led to the search of a facility in which a ship, a harbour, or a navigation aid can be designed from a point of optimal control of the ship by mariners. Besides, there still will remain the need for a facility in which the mariner can be trained or at least can have the possibility to get acquainted with a new ship, a new harbour or a new navigation system. In the opinion of the Netherlands Ship Model Basin these desires could be met by a facility like the new-built manoeuvring simulator, in which the real ship characteristics will be simulated on real time base.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Symposium on "Offshore Hydrodynamics" at Wageningen, The Netherlands, August 25-26, 1971.
• Corporate Authors:

  Netherlands Ship Model Basin

  Haagsteed 2, P.O. Box 28
  Wageningen,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • Hooft, J P
  • Oldenkamp, I
• Publication Date: 1971-8

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 21 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Maneuverability; Maneuvering; Ship simulators; Vehicle characteristics
• Old TRIS Terms: Ship characteristics
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00033620
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Netherlands Ship Model Basin
• Report/Paper Numbers: NSMB-375
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 28 1973 12:00AM