Abstract
Using the computer programs for calculation of natural vibrations of ship's hull developed by the authors et al., an investigation into influences of various parameters on the accuracy of calculation was done through example calculations of a 30,000 DWT petroleum products carrier M/S Sweet Brier built by Korea Shipbuilding and Engineering Corporation. The methodical principles employed for the computer program development are as follows; (a) the ship system is reduced to an equivalent discrete elements system conforming to Myklestad-Prohl model, (b) the problem formulation is of transfer matrix method, and (c) to obtain solutions an extended $G\ddot{u}mbel's$ initial value method is introduced. The scope of the investigation is influences of number of discrete elements, choice of significant system parameters such as rotary inertia, bending stiffness and shear stiffness, and simplification of distributions of added mass and stiffness as trapezoidal ones referred to those of midship section on the calculation accuracy. From the investigation the followings are found out; (1) To obtain good results for the modes up to the seven-noded thirty or more divisions of the hull is desirable. For fundamental mode fifteen divisions may give fairly good results. (2) The influence of rotary inertia is negligibly small at least for the modes up to the 5- or 6- noded. (3) In the case of assuming either bending modes or shear modes the calculation results in considerably higher frequencies as compared with those based on Timoshenko beam theory. However, the calculation base on the slender beam theory surprisingly gives frequencies within 10% error for fundamental modes. (4) It is proved that to simplify distributions of added mass and stiffness as trapezoidal ones referred to those of midship section is a promising approach for the prediction of natural frequencies at preliminary design stage; provided good accumulation of data from similar type ships, we may expect to obtain natural frequencies within 5% error.