A proposal for assessing the stopping ability of ships

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Dien, R.

Affiliations: Germanischer Lloyd, Head Office, Hamburg, W. Germany

Abstract: A lot of stopping diagrams are given in literatur and it is difficult to recognize the basic relations determining the stopping ability of ships. In this paper a proposal is made for assessing the stopping ability of ships by use of a ship’s own constant, called the ship’s time constant. With the help of this constant it is possible to plot the results of stopping manoeuvres in a dimensionless form and the basic relations are more evident in the case of different influences. The magnitude of the ship’s time constant differs very much between the different types of ships and it is shown in the paper that this constant determines the stopping ability of a ship. The dimension of the constant is that of a time in seconds for example and means the time period for losing 50% of the ship’s speed measured from the instant when the energy input is cut off. Under these circumstances the time constant or half-value period of a ship also has a concise significance for nautical people [1].

DOI: 10.3233/ISP-1976-2326802

Journal: International Shipbuilding Progress, vol. 23, no. 268, pp. 401-405, 1976