• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.385-392
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• 2017

This research presents the results of a study on the trajectory characteristics of barges with different configurations. A towing experiment was carried out in a water tank with three types of barges in two cases: with and without skegs. The effects of towline length on trajectory were also observed. This study analyzed and compared the length and amplitude of trajectory shapes for each barge in various combinations. It revealed that the trajectory of a barge is influenced not only by skegs but also by the length of the towline. As a result of this work, it can be clearly seen that skegs significantly improve the course stability of a towed barge regardless of differences in bow shape or towline length. Water tank test results also indicated that the length of a towline plays a key role in affecting the trajectory characteristics of a barge-towing system. The length and amplitude of the slewing motion of a barge increased with an increase in the length of the towline connected to the barge. Validation of the present research results should be carried out by further experiments and computational comparisons in the near future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.800-806
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• 2016

The maneuverability of a tugboat is affected by the slewing motion of a barge while the tug is navigating with the barge in water. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the slewing motion of the barge to allow for safe towing work. In this study, a water tank experiment was performed to examine the factors affecting the slewing motion of a barge and improve course stability. The characteristics of slewing motion vary according to bow shape. Three barge models, each with a different bow shape, were selected as experimental subjects. A comprehensive analysis was performed to study the effects of various factors on the slewing motion of a barge such as the presence of a skeg and bridle, towing speed, and the length of the towline. The effect of the location of the skeg varied according to bow-hull form. The slewing motion of the barge decreased as the length of the towline increased, and this decrease was even greater when a bridle was connected to the towline. In addition, the slewing motion decreased significantly as the length of the bridle increased. The slewing angles did not show significant change with respect to towing speed.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.483-488
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• 2011

When a tug-barge navigates in the water, maneuvering ability of a tug is affected by the slewing motion of barge. Therefore it is necessary to decrease the slewing motion of a barge for safe towing work. We chose two different types of barge model and investigated their motion depending on the existence of bridle, towing speed and length of towline. The experiments are performed in the still water using the wire rope for the towline. A longer towline makes the heading angle smaller. The towing speed does not largely affect the turning of barge. Finally, it is noted that the bridle of a towing line decrease the slewing motion of barge more effectively.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2013

This paper presents the results of a numerical study on the towing stability of barges. Towing simulations were carried out by using two different numerical models (MMG model and cross-flow model). Stability criteria are also suggested based on the analysis of the linearized governing equations for towed vessel motion. In order to validate the present numerical models, the experimental data of Yasukawa et al. (2006) were used. Simulations were conducted for single and double barges under constant towing speed and direction conditions. The time histories of the heading angle, yaw rate, and towline tension were compared between the numerical results and experiments. The effects of the towline length on the slewing frequency and maximum heading angle were also observed. In addition, a series of numerical simulations using variable hydrodynamic coefficients were performed to investigate the effects of the hydrodynamic forces on the towing stability.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.58-65
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• 2016

Lately, tugboats are widely used to maneuver vessels by pushing or towing them where tugboats use rope. In order to correctly control the motion of tugboat and towed vessel, the dynamics of the towline would be well identified. In real application environment, the towing rope length changes and the towing load is not constant due to the various sizes of towed vessel. And there are many ropes made by many types of materials. It means that it is not easy to obtain rope dynamics, such that it is too difficult to satisfy the given control purpose by designing control system. Thus real time identification or adaptive control system design method may be a solution. However it is necessary to secure sufficient information about rope dynamics to obtain desirable control performance. In this paper, the authors try to have several rope dynamic models by changing the rope length to consider real application conditions. Among them, a representative model is selected and the others are considered as uncertain models which are considered in control system design. The authors design a robust control to cope with strong uncertain and nonlinear property included in the real plant. The designed control system based on robust control framework is evaluated by simulation.