Eng.

Hussien Mohamed Hassan

M.Sc. and B.Sc. Eng. in Naval Architecture and Marine

Sea Trials Guidelines

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Contents:
Sea Trial Objective

Sea Trial Boundary Conditions

Components of Sea Trials
1. Hull trials
2. Navigation equipment
3. Communication / Information
Maneuvering sea trials
1. Spiral speed
2. Turning circle
3. Z-maneuvering
4. Spiral manoeuver
5. Pull-out maneuver
6. Stopping maneuver
References

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Sea Trial Objective

The primary purpose of speed trials is to determine ship performance in terms of speed,
power and propeller revolutions under prescribed ship conditions, and thereby verify the
satisfactory attainment of the contractually stipulated ship speed. Ship speed that is
realised under the contractually stipulated conditions which usually are no wind, no
waves, no current, deep water, and smooth hull and propeller surfaces and for the ship
at a contract draught.

Such stipulated conditions cannot normally all be expected during the actual trials. In
practice, certain corrections for the environmental conditions have to be considered, as
for water depth, wind, waves and current and deviating ship draught. For this purpose
during the trials not only the shaft power and ship speed are measured but also relevant
ship data and environmental conditions.

All trials procedures and measurements should be conducted in such a way that the
speed is determined within 0.05 knots and the power within 2%.

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Sea Trial Boundary Conditions
During the trial there are many conditions that deviate from the contract condition. The
objective during the trial is to keep the number of influencing factors as limited as possible.
This is important since although there are correction methods to correct for certain
deviations from the contract condition, these methods are only valid up to certain limits. In
order to arrive at reliable speed trial results the boundary conditions should not exceed the
values given in this chapter.

Location

High wind and sea state can force the use of excessive rudder deflections to maintain
heading, and thus cause excessive fluctuations in shaft torque, shaft speed and ship speed.
The speed trial should be conducted in a location where the environmental conditions are
constant and have only a small possible impact on the vessel in order to avoid unexpected
environmental effects in the trial results.

This means that the speed trial range should be located in a sheltered body of water (i.e.
limited wind, waves and current). Furthermore the operational area should be free from
substantial small boat traffic and commercial traffic.

6.2 Wind

During the trial wind speeds should not be higher than:

 Beaufort number 61 , for vessels with a Lpp ≥ 100 m,

 or Beaufort number 5, for vessel with a Lpp < 100 m

6.3 Sea State

The total wave height, H , which is the sum of significant wave heights of sea H1/3 and
swell Hs1/3 ,

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In addition to the above limitations, it is required that when the significant wave height H
exceeds 3.0 m (for vessels with Lpp >200 m), the actual wave spectrum encountered during
the trial should be measured accurately i.e. the significant wave height should be known
within 5%.

6.4 Water depth

There are correction methods that compensate for shallow water; however it is better to
avoid the corrections by the choice of the trial location. An acceptable minimum water
depth for the trials where data do not need to be corrected for shallow water can be
calculated using: Use of the larger of the 2 values obtained from the two equations

Furthermore significant variations in the bottom contours should be avoided

6.5 Current
Areas with known large current variations should be avoided.

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Components of Sea Trials

Hull equipment
 Anchore equipment
 Steering gear
 Bow and stern thruster unit
 Waterjet
Navigation equipment
 Gyro compass master
 Magnetic compass
 Heading indicator at emerg. steering position
 Echo sounder
 Speed log (SME)
 Rudder indicator
 Rudder indicator in steering gear room
 Rate of turn indicator (ROT)
 Sound reception system (only for closed wings)
 Heading control system
 Track control system
 ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system
 Back up for ECDIS 

 Electronic Position Finding System (EPFS)

– AIS (automatic identification system)

– VDR (voyage data recorder)
– Transmitting heading device (THD)
– Satellite navigation (GPS, DGPS)
– Satellite navigation (Glonass, DGlonass)

Communication / Information
– Telephone
– Telephone to emergency steering position
– Course recorder
– Ship clock
– Public address system
– General alarm system
– Manoeuvre recorder
– Radio station / GMDSS

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Maneuvering sea trials

1. Spiral speed
2. Turning circle
3. Z-maneuvering
4. Spiral manoeuver
5. Pull-out maneuver
6. Williamson turn
7. Stopping maneuver
8. Propulsion particulars
9. Backwards maneuver
10. Minimum on-load speed

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Turning circle
Turning circles should be performed to both right and left with 35 degrees rudder angle or
the maximum design rudder angle permissible at the test speed.
The essential information to be obtained from this maneuver consists of tactical diameter,
advance, and transfer.
Also of interest are the final ship speed and yaw rate in the "steady state" of the turning
circle.
A turning circle of at least 540 degrees should be completed to determine the main
parameters of the maneuver and allow correction for any drift caused by a steady current

or wind .
The following data should be recorded as following
a) Time of test, and base course.

b )Rudder angle.

c) Compass reading to nearest degree every 10 seconds that ship is in the turning maneuver.

d) Time elapsed and advance from start of rudder movement and clearing base course using
GNSS data
e) Ship's position at suitable intervals from GNSS equipment. If GNSS equipment is not
installed, ship's track should be obtained by radar, shore station tracking, or visual
observation of the wake. Observation intervals should coincide with heading data intervals.

f) Shaft RPM at beginning and end of each circle.

g) Depth of water and sea condition

h) Wind direction and velocity.

i) Trial draft fore and aft.

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Z-Maneuver

The "Z" Maneuver is shown in Figure and may be identified as the Zig-Zag Maneuver or
the Kempf Maneuver. With the ship in trial condition and proceeding ahead into the wind
at the maximum trial shaft RPM, with either steering power unit, move the rudder at
maximum rate and perform the following maneuvers:
1. Move the rudder from center to 10 degrees right - hold until ship's heading is 10
degrees to the right of the original course.
2. Move the rudder from 10 degrees right to 10 degrees left hold until ship's heading is 10
degrees to the left of the original course.
3. Move the rudder from 10 degrees left to 10 degrees right hold until the ship's heading is
10 degrees to the right of the original course.
4. Move the rudder from 10 degrees right to center hold until original heading is restored.
Steady on original course
In some cases it may be desirable to modify the test so as to include a fifth rudder movement
in order to collect additional data for other analysis. A pullout test may also be performed
upon completion of the "Z” Maneuver.

The standard type "Z" Maneuvers are the 10°/10° (which is a 10° rudder change and a 10°
change of heading at next rudder execute, etc.) and the 20°/20° tests. Both the 10-10 and
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20-20 maneuvers are specified in the IMO Standards, the latter primarily because of the
large body of trials data available for this maneuver.
The trials data base for evaluating results of the 20-10 maneuver is not large.
Thus conducting this trial maneuver may not be that useful. There is a growing body of
data,
however, for 5-5 and 5-1 “Z” maneuvers because these maneuvers are more quickly
accomplished than 10-10 or 20-20 maneuvers and they can clearly identify unstable ships
and potentially eliminate or reduce the cost of time-consuming spiral maneuvers.

At least one standard type "Z" Maneuver should be performed at the test speed. The 10°/10°
test is preferred as it provides better discrimination between ship characteristics.
The 20°/20° test should also be included to provide a comparison with data available from
earlier tests.
The 20°/10° tests are frequently performed in long towing basins, in narrow waters, and
for reasons of special analysis.
The following data should be recorded or derived:
a) Time of test and base course.

b) Time rudder is held at each position.

c) Shaft RPM at beginning and end of test.
d) Depth of water and sea condition.
Record data as shown on following Table and prepare a plot of rudder position and ship's

heading changes during the maneuver. Indicate the tactical dimensional characteristics as

illustrated in following Figure. Tests may be specified at different ship speeds, depths of

water, ballast conditions, and rudder angles if more data is required.

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Pullout Tests

The pullout test gives a simple indication of a ship's dynamic stability on a straight course.
The ship is first made to turn with a certain rate of turn in either direction, upon which the
rudder is returned to amidship.

If the ship is stable, then the rate of turn will decay to zero for turns to both left and right.
If the ship is unstable, then the rate of turn will reduce to some residual rate of turn.
The pullout tests must be performed to both left and right to show possible asymmetry.

Normally, pullout tests are performed at the end of the turning circle tests, "Z" Maneuver,
and initial turning tests, but they may be carried out separately.

Each test consists of a left and right run as follows:

1. Attain a steady turning rate with a fixed rudder angle of approximately 15 degrees to
35 degrees. The engine control settings are kept constant.

2. Return rudder to amidships position, and record time.

3. Record heading, ship speed, and propeller RPM at 10 second intervals. These
recordings should be continued for 12 readings, i.e., 120 seconds, past the interval in
which steady state, i.e., a constant rate of turn, is obtained.
4. The resulting data should be captured as shown in Table 9 and then plotted as in
following Figure.

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The Direct Spiral Test

The direct spiral test is an orderly sequence of turning tests to obtain a steady turning rate versus
rudder angle relationship.

This test can be a time consuming test to perform, especially for large and slow ships.
The test is very sensitive to weather conditions and a significant amount of time and care is
needed for the ship to obtain a steady rate of change of heading after each rudder angle change.

The IMO requires a determination of the instability loop width for all unstable ships. As spiral
tests are expensive to conduct, these tests probably do not need to be conducted if positive
stability is clearly demonstrated from results of pullout tests or from a 5-5 or 5-1 “Z” maneuver.

Where any question about stability exists a spiral test will be required.

Ship's speeds most unfavorable to directional stability at trial draft should be estimated and
specified for the test.

Since this test may be adversely affected by the elements, it should be conducted only in
relatively calm seas, i.e., sea state 3 or less, and winds of less than 10 knots.

With the ship in the specified trial condition and proceeding ahead at the designated speed and on
a steady course, using either steering power unit, conduct the maneuver as follows:

1. Turn the rudder 20 degrees to right and hold until the turning rate becomes steady.
2. Move the rudder to the following settings and hold at each until the turning rate in

degrees per second becomes steady: 20oR, 15oR, 10oR, 5oR, 3oR, 1oR, 0o, 1oL, 3oL,
5oL, 10oL, 15oL, 20oL, 15oL, 10oL, 5oL, 3oL, 1oL,0o, 1oR, 3oR, 5oR, 10oR, 15oR, 20oR

A steady turning rate is the difference between successive ship headings and should be noted as
the test progresses. When these differences are reasonably constant for at least six consecutive
readings, data is recorded and the rudder is ordered to the next setting.

The following data should be recorded as following:

(a) Before starting the test:
1) Time of test and base course.
2) Ship speed and corresponding RPM.
3) Wind velocity and direction.
4) Depth of water and sea condition.
5) Trial draft.
(b) During the test:
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1) Rudder angle.
2) Gyro compass reading every 10 seconds to the smallest fraction of degree readable.

The Reverse Spiral Test

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Crash Astern or Stopping Tests)

With the ship at trial drafts and proceeding ahead at maximum trial shaft RPM and normal
machinery operating conditions, signal "Full Astern" while maintaining the rudder in the
amidships position.
Reverse the throttle at maximum allowable rate or move the automatic control lever in one
motion to the full astern position. When the ship gains sternway, continue with the scheduled
tests.

The following data should be recorded on data sheets like Table 13 during the test:

1) Time of test and base course.

2) Prime mover parameters immediately prior to "Full Astern" signal.

3) RPM, torque, and significant prime mover parameters at frequent intervals during the
maneuver.
4) Time of issuing astern order.

5) Time when propeller stops prior to reversal.

6) Time shaft starts astern or the propeller pitch is positioned for astern way.
7) Time to stop ship "Dead-in-Water".

8) Time to reach required maximum astern shaft RPM.

9) Ship's position at suitable intervals from GNSS equipment, so that a diagram of the reversal
maneuver showing track and heading may be plotted.

10) Depth of water and sea condition.

11) Wind direction and velocity.

12) Ship's drafts.

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References

[1] International standard ISO 15016 and ISO 19019 “Ship and marine technology –
Guidelines for the assessment of speed and power performance by analysis of
speed trial data”, First edition 2002-06-15;

[2] ITTC Recommended procedures “Speed/Power Trial preparation”, 7.5-04-01-

01.1, 23rd ITTC 2002;

[3] The Specialist Committee on Speed and Powering Trials. Final report and
recommendations to the 23rd ITTC, page 314-367;

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