1 Design of High Speed Craft – The human factor Dominic A. Hudson School of Engineering Sciences, Ship Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. 17 th Annual Engineering Conference, Malta 17 th April 2008

2 High Speed Craft Applications Planing craft (up to ~80 kts) – now often RIBs –Life-saving (e.g. RNLI in UK) –Leisure Excursions, dive boats Personal Racing powerboats –Military and para-military –Offshore industry – variety of roles

3 What is the Problem?

4 Repeated shock impacts lead to: –Lower back damage –Knee injuries Depends on: –Waves –Hullform –Boat speed 20 Kts Sea-state 3

5 12 subjects 8.5m RIB, 40 kts, 1hr 40 min Sea-state 0-1 What is the Problem? Crew effectiveness reduced: –Physical performance –Cognitive ability Factors: –Day/night –Temperature –Sound –Smell –Everyone is different!

6 Solutions? Currently design boats for: –Speed, strength, range, weight, cost, etc. –Consider people later……… –EU Physical Agents Directive enforced 2010 Can we design for people from the start? Or mitigate problems by –Structural design? –Seat design?

7 Research Effort ~1 million EPSRC grant Univ. of Southampton – SES (Ship design) –Prof. R. Shenoi, Prof. J. Xing, Dr. D. Hudson, Dr. S. Turnock, Dr. D. Taunton, Dr. J. Blake, S. Lewis, T. Coe. Univ. of Southampton – ISVR (Signal Processing) –Prof. R. Allen, Dr. D. Allen Univ. of Chichester (Sports Science) –Dr. R. Dyson, Prof. T. McMorris, Dr. T. Dobbins, S. Myers Additional funding: Royal Academy of Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences

8 Full-scale Tests Measurement techniques Quantify/characterise –Motions –Vibration dose values –Physiological data Person in real situation Very difficult

9 Full-Scale Results

Results – VDV action levels ~10 mins

Results – Spinal health risk (ISO )

12 Full-scale Results

13 Numerical Modelling 2D strip theory (after Zarnick) Wedge-impact model Non-linear, time domain Regular or irregular waves Well-known conventional hulls Work on –Validation –Front-end GUI Limits –hull form (RIB, VSV)? –speed?

14 Model Tests Validate numerical code 2 models tested –Wave-piercing RIB Kali –RNLI Atlantic 21 RIB Limitations –Only head seas –V. short run time (~3 sec)

15 Results - comparison

Current Work Human spine model Flow simulation + Design optimisation, ongoing model, full-scale testing

17 See the Posters!

18 Future Aims Design boat to comply with EU directive –Test boat = 21 mins –best planing hull = ~1 hour –Target = 8 hours Co-operate with designers, builders, operators, MCA Understand human – boat interface Trusted design and simulation tools Tailor solutions to applications