Nonlinear dynamics of ship capsizing at sea

Capsizing is one of the worst scenarios in oceangoing vessels. It could lead to a high number of fatalities. A considerable number of studies have been conducted until the 1980s, and one of the discoveries is the weather criterion established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In the past, one of the biggest difficulties in revealing the behavior of ship-roll motion was the nonlinearity of the governing equation. On the other hand, after the mid-1980s, the complexity of the capsizing problem was uncovered with the aid of computers. In this study, we present the theoretical backgrounds of the capsizing problem from the viewpoint of nonlinear dynamics. Then, we discuss the theoretical conditions and mechanisms of the bifurcations of periodic solutions and numerical attempts for the bifurcations and capsizing.

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