A systematic approach to seakeeping evaluation
Time: Fri 2026-09-18 14.00
Location: D3, Lindstedtsvägen 5, Stockholm
Language: English
Subject area: Vehicle and Maritime Engineering
Doctoral student: Marion Zu , Flyg- och rymdteknik, marina system och rörelsemekanik
Opponent: Professor Paola Gualeni, Universitá di Genova
Supervisor: Professor Karl Garme, Flyg- och rymdteknik, marina system och rörelsemekanik; Associate Professor Anders Rosén, Lärande i Stem; Magnus Boström, Kalmar Maritime Academy, Linnaeus University
QC260824
Abstract
Marine vessels operate as moving work environments, and vessel motions can affect the safe and effective performance of onboard tasks. By influencing crew balance, perception, control, and the handling of materials and equipment, vessel motions can compromise safety and operational performance. Such limitations should be addressed early in vessel design and procurement through seakeeping evaluation. However, conventional seakeeping evaluation practices often rely on generic motion criteria that do not adequately capture the relationship between vessel motions, onboard task demands, and crew performance.
The aim of this thesis is to develop a systematic approach to seakeeping evaluation that aligns seakeeping performance with functional requirements, onboard tasks, and end-user needs. The research combines literature reviews, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, onboard observations, and numerical simulations. It identifies key limitations in conventional seakeeping evaluation practices and develops a systems-oriented, vessel-specific, and task-based framework for seakeeping evaluation. The framework is demonstrated through two case studies of the Swedish Coast Guard vessel KBV 202 and the Swedish Maritime Administration fairway maintenance vessel Fyrbjörn, showing that task-based evaluation yields substantially different operability assessments from conventional generic approaches. A task-informed motion-induced interruption estimator is also developed, enabling the prediction of interruption rates without prescribed stance geometry or orientation.
The findings show that seakeeping evaluation should extend beyond routine generic procedures towards vessel-specific and task-based approaches that better support the safe and effective performance of onboard work. The proposed framework provides a structured and defensible basis for translating functional requirements and end-user needs into relevant seakeeping evaluation criteria.