The Dynamics of Ships

The Royal Society Discussion meeting on ship dynamics, held in June 1990, attracted an audience of engineers, naval architects, mathematicians, physicists, master mariners, surveyors, etc, representing 24 countries.;Ship dynamics is a diverse subject and relates to studies associated with fluid-structure interactions involving free surface wave effects. This volume contains papers which fall into one of two groups, depending on whether the ship is treated as a rigid or a flexible structure.;Discussions in the "rigid-ships" session focused on problems relating to towing tank model experiments, hydromechanics, ship-wave-wind interactions, predictions of ship motions, seakeeping and manoeuvring. In the sessions on "flexible ships", attention concentrated on hydroelastic-related subjects or studies of the dynamics of flexible structures moving through fluids. The discussions covered topics ranging from instrumentation and model techniques, materials, propeller wave-induced surface force excitations, calculations and measurements of wave induced loadings in ships, multihulls, small-waterplane area twin-hull ships (SWATHS), etc excited by irregular waves, to rules and the role of the classification societies.