Assessing motion stress levels on board fishing vessels of the Newfoundland fleet

The aim of this study is to develop a numerical tool that could be used to assess the physical stress levels associated with the vessel motions on board fishing vessels of the Newfoundland fleet. A number of full-scale sea trials of typical fishing vessels of the fleet are underway to validate the numerical tool. Model experiments are expected to follow in the next year. If desirable correlations between the trials and the numerical results are obtained, simulations will be performed to obtain typical 'motion stress' profiles of various fishing boats over a typical fishing season. 'Motion Stress' will be quantified in terms of a parameter known as 'Motion Induced Interrupt' frequency (MII). Other parameters that can quantify the motion stress levels can also be incorporated into the numerical tool. Among them would be seasickness criteria and another postural stability index, which relates the motion levels on board to the 'motion stress'. -- For full-scale trials, two vessels will be used initially. In terms of their sizes, these represent one of the smallest vessels and one of the larger vessels of the fleet. During the trials a directional wave buoy was used to measure the wave characteristics. -- The Thesis will include the results from the full-scale sea trials and the numerical tool. Additionally, some sample results for motion stress levels will be presented