Design of High Speed Performance Marine Craft from a Human Factors Perspective

A research project funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

This three year project is being undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of naval architects, engineers, bio-medical engineers, biomechanists, psychologists and physiologists. These three groups who have come together to undertake the project are from the Southampton University Ship Science Department and the Institute of Sound & Vibration Research and the University College Chichester School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences

What problems are there with the way that marine craft are currently designed?

High Speed Craft (HSC) are designed from an engineering perspective, and very little emphasis is placed on the crew and passengers. High speed craft operators (e.g. RNLI and MOD) recognise that the HSC are a mode of transport for getting ‘employees’ to their place of work, and that they require their employees to able to perform their work tasks effectively when on-site. There are anecdotal reports that the high levels of shock (potentially >15g) and vibration experienced during HSC transits result in high levels of crew and passengers fatigue, and this results in reduced employee effectiveness. Also high levels of fatigue are linked with an increased risk of musculoskeletal injury.

What inspired this new approach to design?

The inspiration for this approach comes from taking the human as the most important part of the system. The new theoretical approach is to turn the design process on its head. This will mean starting with the capabilities of the human occupants and developing a design methodology that results in HSC which reduce the shock and vibration exposure.

What are the advantages of this approach?

The advantage is that the crew and passengers will be able to perform their work tasks more effectively, and safely, during the transit and when they arrive at their place of work. This approach will also help the HSC industry comply with the new EU Directive on whole-body-vibration exposure. Initial investigations suggest that the new daily dose limit for whole-body-vibration may be exceeded by HSC in less than 10 minutes in certain sea conditions !

What challenges will have to be overcome?

The greatest challenge will be modeling the links between measures of human fatigue and HSC design (e.g. hull geometry).

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of the project?

It is hoped that to be able to predict how HSC designs influence crew and passengers fatigue; and therefore we should subsequently be able define HSC designs based on levels of allowable fatigue. We are working with HSC industry stakeholders to ensure that the output from the project adds value to the HSC design process and enhances crew and passenger performance and safety.

Further information will be available in the near future from the project website.

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