Stochastic Ship Roll Motion via Path Integral Method

The response of ship roll oscillation under random ice impulsive loads modeled by Poisson arrival process is very important in studying the safety of ships navigation in cold regions. Under both external and parametric random excitations the evolution of the probability density function of roll motion is evaluated using the path integral (PI) approach. The PI method relies on the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, which governs the response transition probability density functions at two close intervals of time. Once the response probability density function at an early close time is specified, its value at later close time can be evaluated. The PI method is first demonstrated via simple dynamical models and then applied for ship roll dynamics under random impulsive white noise excitation.