Reducing roll motions is an important objective for vessels in a variety of industries. Active roll stabilization allows offshore vessels to operate safely in a wider range of sea conditions, provides a stable platform for the critical operations carried out by military ships, and delivers the top-level comfort expected on board private yachts. In this paper, two types of roll stabilizers are presented and analyzed: fins, and Magnus-effect rotors. To compare these two different stabilizers and investigate their individual merits, Quantum carried out model tests in the Seakeeping and Maneuvering Basin at MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) in December 2015. The two pairs of stabilizers were separately fitted to a scaled model (1:14.2) of an 86 meter yacht, and comparative tests were performed in calm water and irregular waves at various sea conditions, headings, and ship speeds ranging from 0 knots to 14 knots. The results from these tests indicate that, in general, the fins and Magnus-effect rotors have similar performance at zero speed, while at low speeds the rotors demonstrated better performance than the fins, and at high speeds the opposite was observed. The results from the model tests are presented and discussed in this paper.

Keywords:
knot, stabilization, ship, stabilizer fin, better performance, stabilizer, coefficient, rotor, magnus-effect rotor, natural roll period
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2016. The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
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