A HYDRAULIC ABSORBER FOR WIDE-BAND VIBRATION REDUCTION IN SHIP HULLS

A vibration reduction of ship hulls by an active absorber system is proposed. In the scheme, a tuned mass is moved according to the hull vibration as measured by a multi-mode sensing system in order to generate a suitable active force for vibration reduction of hull girder. In order to supply the large amount of required power, a hydraulic servo system is implemented. Then the dynamic characteristic of the hydraulic system is considered for system design. Based on stochastic theory and optimal theory, the control law of the system is derived in order to approach the optimal level of vibration reduction. A 10-t absorber is applied to a 87,000-t oil tanker to demonstrate the feasibility of this scheme. The results show that the multipeak values of resonance are suppressed in frequency response. Moreover, the vibration excited by propeller and engine is reduced to an extremely efficient level by this scheme.