ProteusDS - Ship Motion Toolset for ISO 22834 Comfort Evaluation

How do you evaluate comfort during early-stage yacht design?

Yacht motion in waves – like pitch, roll, and heave – directly affects the quality of life for passengers onboard. Naturally, yacht owners want assurance that their vessel will be comfortable and that passengers will not get seasick, feel unsteady, or fall over from these motions in waves. Sometimes owners might ask how much comfort is improved with different anti-roll technologies or even changes to the hull of the ship. One way to get insight into these questions is with motion-affected comfort is by using ship motion prediction software.

Ship motion prediction software gives insight into the motions and accelerations of any ship in waves. However, there is a nuanced relationship between these motions and accelerations and human comfort at sea, and calculations and techniques for evaluation are complex. What’s needed is a simple, standardized way to evaluate comfort based on motion data.

ISO 22834:2022 provides a roadmap for how to rate ship motion-affected comfort levels

The standard ISO 22834:2022 “Large yachts – quality assessment of life onboard – stabilization and seakeeping” provides a clear framework to evaluate and rate motion-affected comfort for a large yacht. The standard provides the process to compute a rating on a simple 5-star scale: the higher the number of stars, the higher the comfort onboard.

The standardized rating system also provides a way for naval architects to clearly show the impact on comfort level from changes in vessel design. For example, it shows the benefit of improved comfort between different VCG targets. It can be used to show the value of adding anti-roll technology to a yacht, too. The standardized 5-star scale gives a concise and clear way for a naval architect and vessel owner to understand and communicate about motion-affected comfort performance.

But the standard does not provide a tool that can be readily used during early stage design. What’s needed is software that both predicts ship motions and then quickly produces an ISO-compliant comfort rating so that design options can be evaluated. Naval architects can then give yacht owners the assurance they want on a comfortable design, using an accepted rating criteria.

Calculate an ISO 22834 large yacht motion-affected comfort rating. The ISO standard details a specific way to quantify large yacht comfort involving multiple speeds and many sea state conditions. Calculate the ISO-compliant comfort rating using a purpose-built application in one step.

Instant calculation of ship performance metrics. Waiting for feedback on design changes slows down innovation. Rapid calculations speeds up innovation and reduces design costs. The purpose-built application computes ISO comfort rating instantly.

Calculate ISO comfort rating at any area on the vessel. Acceleration is the primary factor in establishing the effects on crew and equipment. But ship motion can result in complex changes in acceleration through the entire hull. Verify comfort rating at any location on the ship.

Make fundamental design decisions guided by ISO comfort rating. The yacht VCG can strongly affect motion-affected comfort. Get feedback on comfort rating to inform early-stage design decisions on placement of heavy equipment or aluminum superstructure as early as possible.