Parametric Roll - vessel motion

BulkCarrier_RoughWeatherThe head sea parametric roll is a recently identified

phenomenon and seems especially likely to affect large container ships. Its
occurrence depends on the wave conditions in relation to the dimensions of the
ship, and leads to especially pronounced variations in stability as the ship sails
through critical head or following seas. In addition to buoyancy changes, as the
wave moves along the vessel it is alternately pushed from side to side, and quickly
in only five cycles large rolling angles of more than 35 can be excited. This
generates extremely high loads in the lashings and containers.

In the case of parametric rolling, even the breaking load of lashings and containers
could be exceeded. As a result the cargo and vessel could be damaged and/or
containers could be lost. For this phenomenon special conditions for critical vessel
types have to be considered.

Critical vessels

Parametric rolling occurs in large vessels characterised by the following:

large flare in the fore and aftship,

flat aftership,
slim fore and aft body,
righting arm varies significant with draft
Critical conditions
In general parametric rolling occurs only under the following critical conditions:

head/stern sea conditions

when the natural period of roll is nearly twice the wave encounter period, resulting
in two pitch cycles per roll cycle
wavelength in relation to ships length
waveheight exceeds critical values
the roll damping is low
Possibilities to increase the safety
A solution to increase the safety of cargo could be the use of open-top container
vessels. These have a higher freeboard and the containers are secured in
cellguides. However, this vessel type has not been well recognised in the past and
has not been accepted in the market because of its higher gross tonnage and
related costs.

Essential modifications to non-critical hull shapes also are unrealistic. The design of
most large container vessels especially in the aft and fore sections is
characterised by its capacity to carry the maximum number of containers, which is
important for the economic efficiency of the vessel.
For the same economical reason, the application of large rolling angles to determine
accelerations for basic design criteria for the lashing and loading system is not
practical.

More realistic provisions to increase the safety of cargo and vessel in practice could
be:

the application of higher lashing levels and optimised lashing angles

the prevention of parametric rolling in service
Even though modifications of the single lashing element will not lead to benefits,
because the container itself as a determining element in the system remains
unchanged, the arrangement can be improved. If the same lashing arrangement for
inner stacks can be applied, e.g. double short cross lashing (PARALASH), not from
the standard lashing bridge level but from higher TLB-2 or TLB-3 level, the risk of
container damage can significantly be reduced. Therefore, even with increased
accelerations induced by rolling angles of =30 for the a.m. example, the
calculated forces would not exceed the allowable limits by using the TLB-2 or TLB-3.

However, the most effective way of guaranteeing the highest safety standards for
cargo and vessel is to avoid the parametric rolling by nautical measures. So by
modifications to velocity and course for example, the critical conditions for
parametric rolling can be avoided. The problem is that parametric roll is generated
rapidly and the inertia of the vessel is large when modifying the parameters. When
parametric rolling starts it is too late, so it is important to detect the critical
parameters as soon as possible to be able to react early enough.
Different research and development projects guided by classification societies are
being undertaken to investigate the problem and to provide the tools needed to
support masters in taking the right nautical measures.

Synchronized rolling

is a special kind of rolling experienced when time period of encounter (Te) becomes
equal to or almost equal to time period of roll (Tr) of the ship.

Te = Tr

It causes the vessel to roll at an angle which increases succesively till GZ values are
sufficient to dampen the roll.

Before damping occurs , vessel may reach angle of flooding or capsizing.

Any type of ship can be affected by synchronized rolling in any sea condition (head,
beam, following)

Parametric rolling

is observed when change of parameter (GZ oscillating for some angle as crest and
trough are passing by) synchronising with the rolling period of ship.

It can be visualised as a large single crest passing on port side of vessel , then the
vessel rolls and again the crest comes on stbd. side or when vessel is pitching with
maximum roll angle

Only experienced in head and following seas , not beam seas.

Unlike Synchronised , it is sudden increase of roll without any warning roll may
change from 5 degree to 40 degree suddenly.
Ships likjely to experience parametric rolling are those ships having large flare and
1 or more broad overhanging stern.

(Container, Ro-Ro, Passenger, Woodchip)

Guidance to avoid both these rolling is given in IMO Circular 1228.

Synchronous rolling is a situation that can occur on a ship when the period of the
sea is equal to or an even multiple of the ships natural rolling period. This can cause
a ship to begin rolling heavily in a few short cycles of the sea period and can lead to
a capsizing situation. This is more common in a beam sea or an angle close to
abeam.

Parametric rolling is a phenomenon that occurs when you have a head sea or a
following sea. It can be very unpredictable and is caused by the downward force of
the bow. The flair of the bow is acted upon and pushed upwards in the opposite
direction. This will lead to heavy rolling in a few cycles as well.

Both of these can be mitigated by a heading change or, in the case of parametric
rolling, a change in speed can alleviate the situation. Both should be dealt with
quickly as the rolling can become dangerous quickly.