The most common methods for predicting ship roll motions in a specified sea state are direct measurements of motions in a representative irregular wave realisation (time domain) or calculations of motions from response amplitude operators (RAOs) in the frequency domain. The result of the first method is valid only for the tested sea state, whilst the second method is more flexible but less accurate. RAO-based predictions are calculated...

Evaluation of the response amplitude operator (RAO) function for ship wave frequency motions by means of scale model tests in regular waves is a standard procedure conducted by hydrodynamic model testing institutions. The resulting RAO function allows for evaluating sufficiently reliable seakeeping predictions for low to moderate sea states. However, for standard hull forms, correct prediction of roll motion in irregular wave (and...