GL Holds Ship Stability Workshop

More than 70 experts from the international maritime industry met at Germanischer Lloyd headquarters to discuss the current status of the development and research in ship stability. The two day workshop dealt with the probabilistic assessment of intact stability, showed trends in progressive flooding prediction, presented new cognitions of investigations on severe stability incidents like the MV Estonia and informed about the simulation of parametric rolling. Surf-riding, broaching and capsizing in following/quartering seas, numerical prediction of intact stability as well as probabilistic approach to damage stability and survivability assessment plus intact capsize investigations rounded off the program of 28 presentations. In a further presentation first results of the on-going investigation of the MV Estonia case were shown by Petri Valanto, Hamburg Ship Model Basin HSVA. Since March 2006 a consortium consisting of the HSVA, the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) and TraffGo HT, is investigating the accident for the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA). The results mainly base on the motion simulation of the damaged ship in seaway carried out in the HSVA, including the simulation of the water sloshing on the vehicle deck. Relating to the studies and results, the participants of the workshop were able to get an idea of the early phases of the accident.