A consistent method to design and evaluate the performance of Anti-Roll Tanks for ships

ABSTRACT This article presents practical methods to design an Anti-Roll tank (ART) for a ship and to predict the performance of the system ship + ART in a sea state. The methods presented are extensions of existing mathematical models. The prediction of the moment exerted by the tanks has been improved and new models for the lateral force have been derived. Instead of using only the roll angle, a combination of the roll angle and the local lateral acceleration is used as excitation of the motion of the tank. The main advantage of this combined parameter is that it accounts for the distance of the tank bottom to the roll axis and the effect of sway. Experimental and CFD methods have been reviewed and results are shown. Limits of the use of the U and FS-type of ART are separately discussed and quantified. The procedure is demonstrated by a design example.