A SWATH MOTHERSHIP CONCEPT FOR THE FAR SHORE WIND FARMS USING THE ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK...

Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK

© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects

A SWATH MOTHERSHIP CONCEPT FOR THE FAR SHORE WIND FARMS USING

THE ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK MODEL S McCartan and T Thompson, EBDIG-IRC, Coventry University, UK,

B Verheijden, Academy Minerva, Groningen, NL

D Boote and T Colaianni, DITEN, Genoa University, Genoa, Italy

I McFarlane and D Rose, Romica Engineering Ltd, UK

C Anderberg and H Phalm, Division of Maritime Human Factors and Navigation, Chalmers University, SE

SUMMARY

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a continuous improvement philosophy. It became the basis for the LEAN and

Six Sigma manufacturing philosophies. A significant element of TPS is autonomation, or “automation with a human

touch”. In the same way that lean techniques have been applied to automotive manufacturing, the principles of autonomation can be applied to offshore wind farm maintenance practices to improve turbine availability. This paper

presents a mothership concept design to support an autonomation approach to offshore wind farm maintenance practices,

developed through an implementation of the NetWork model of Environmental Psychology and biophilic design. The

NetWork model encompasses both how and where work is done and how workers, processes and places are supported. It

differs from previous Environmental Psychology models by focusing on the work that is to be done and how to enable it

to be done most effectively. This knowledge informs the specification of furnishings, technologies, equipment and

infrastructure that enable workers to make the best of wherever they work, to develop effective work practices, and to

continue to adapt. This contrasts with the more traditional focus, which addresses only the places of work, and their

efficient delivery and maintenance. The evolutionary basis for biophilia, is that contact with nature is a basic human

need: not a cultural amenity, not an individual preference, but a universal primary need. The biophilia hypothesis and

supporting research tells us that, as a species, we are still powerfully responsive to nature’s forms, processes, and patterns. The design process presented is a Transfer of Innovation from interior architecture where it is a well establish

approach to produce highly productive and low stress working environments. The potential of this Human Factors

focused approach to reduce risk and hence operational costs such as insurance is significant.

1. INTRODUCTION

In 2014 the EWEA revised the wind energy scenarios for

2020 [1] to reflect the economic downturn and

regulatory instability in a number of key European

markets. Resulting in 11% lower predicted final power demand in 2020, which is not expected to increase above

its 2008 peak until after 2020. Significantly affecting the

stability of regulatory and market frameworks for

offshore wind energy. These retrospective framework

changes have had a significant negative impact on:

investment plans; new orders; previous investment

decisions; existing installations in markets across Europe.

Given the expectations for energy demand, the rapidly

changing national policy frameworks for wind energy,

and EU policy framework to 2030, the EWEA is

proposing three growth scenarios to 2020. For the Low scenario in 2020 Installed capacity increases by 41%

compared to 2013 to 165.6 GW. Offshore installations

are 19.5 GW. offshore installations produce 71.9 TWh.

The combined wind energy production of 378.9 TWh

covers 12.8% of total EU power demand. The effects of

the economic crisis on power demand linger, pressure on

public spending persists across Europe until the latter

years of the decade. Instability in national regulatory

frameworks in both mature and emerging markets

continues. This instability makes it difficult to attract

financing for new wind energy projects, especially in the

offshore sector that struggles to de-risk. EU and international climate and energy policy post-2020

decisions are weak and unambitious, providing few extra

stimuli for wind energy development. [2]

The major challenge increasingly facing the offshore

wind industry is regulatory risk, with the following key

issues: conflicting political support for offshore wind;

uncertainty with grid connection regimes; lack of a long-

term stable market and regulatory framework. Evidently,

the high level of uncertainty that comes with changing

regulatory frameworks has slowed down offshore wind

energy deployment in many European countries, not least in the two largest markets, the UK and Germany.

By June 2013, there were 6 GW of offshore wind

deployed in Europe. The UK accounted for 57%,

followed by Denmark (21%), Belgium (8%) Germany

(6%), Sweden (4%) and the Netherlands (3%). The

European offshore wind energy industry needs to attract

between €90 billion and €123 billion by 2020 to meet its

deployment target of 40 GW. Should regulatory

instability prevent the offshore industry from reaching its

40 GW target by 2020, even a conservative assumption

of 25 GW would still require between €50 bn and €69 bn over this period. [1]

The most critical strategic research agenda priority for

offshore wind is to significantly lower the cost of

energy in order to become competitive with conventional

power generation by 2030. A key research topic for

offshore wind technology development proposed by

TPWind [3] is O&M. Where the key issues are to

investigate versatile service fleets and safe access,



improve reliability and availability and research on full

cycle cost models for optimisation of asset management.

The implication being that vessels for installation and

O&M have to attract the digitally native generation to a

new sector, that must compete with land based as well as

offshore careers. This was identified as a key rationale

for the development of next generation motherships by

McCartan et al. [4]. RenewableUK annual report [5]

predicts 30,000 employees in the UK offshore wind

sector by 2020, contributing £7 billion Gross Value

Added each year.

1.1 TPM and Environmental Psychology

Total Productive Maintenance is based around having

zero breakdowns and production losses, and is one of the

foundation principles of the lean production system.

TPM evolved from suppliers to Toyota in Japan to enable

them to meet the demands of the TPS [6].TPM is a

philosophy that does not just focus on the ‘Maintenance

Department’ although maintenance does have a

significant part to play. TPM addresses all the reasons for equipment losses. Consistent standards including Overall

Equipment Effectiveness are the basis of the structure,

shown in Figure 1, and the pillars that support TPM are:

1. Autonomous Maintenance: This means that

everyone owns maintenance and that everyone

has a role related to maintaining equipment.

2. Effective Training: The TPM training is to be

focussed on plant operators so they can detect

abnormalities in equipment before a breakdown

occurs.

3. The maintenance function must have a multi-

functional workforce, effective and appropriate PM’s, well-defined KPI’s and an in built

continuous improvement loop.

4. Early Equipment Management: Ensuring

equipment is fit for purpose before

implementation. This includes effective and

informed decision making during the design

process, ensuring the machine is operator

friendly and understanding the preventative

maintenance requirements for the life of the

equipment.

The TPM philosophy promotes training to understand potential breakdown causes, and the development of

effective and efficient maintenance strategies that are

continuously improved.[7]

The majority of continuous improvement philosophies

and tools are derived from the Toyota Production

System [6]. The application of a continuous

improvement philosophy to the wind farm maintenance

function can only have a positive effect if all

stakeholders are involved in the deployment and

effective Work Flow processes are maintained. Therefore

the mothership must be designed as a work environment that can support and nurture a culture based on a

continuous improvement philosophy.

Fig.1: The Five Pillar model of TPM [7]

To implement the TPM within the offshore wind farm,

there should be a move to on-line condition based

maintenance wherever possible. This should be

supported by autonomation inspection system approach

which is efficient and effective for new and developing

technologies. Given that both wind turbine and condition

monitoring technology are constantly evolving. The

mothership and WFSV become the office and plant

space respectively for the technicians, with the

mothership also providing an accommodation role. Both

spaces must effectively support the culture and work

activities. These work activities being a combination of

knowledge work and maintenance activity. A clearly

documented work flow need to be developed based on

the principles of Lean, Kaizen, TQM and TPM. This will

be implemented through rigorous staff training before

deployment and CPD activities when in post. The design

of the mothership platform as an offshore workplace and

accommodation will have to facilitate the following

activities and nurture the identified cultural aspects:

Launch and recovery of 4 x WFSV and 4 x

Cabin RIBs

Accommodation and provision to support 4 x12

person WFSV crews for a 3 weeks on/ 3 weeks

off maintenance operation at Dogger Bank in

the North Sea.

Situational leadership approach respecting the

technician.

Promote team work within maintenance teams

Improved morale through providing a positive

experience working and living environment

Train technicians in TPM to condition monitor

plant

Effective communication between all levels of

organisation



Recognition of all suggestions and

achievements for teams and individuals

Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field of research that addressed the relationship between humans

and their surroundings. The term environment includes:

natural environments; social settings; built environments

learning environments; informational environments. The

discipline is both value oriented and problem oriented,

with the objective of solving complex environmental

problems to achieve individual wellbeing within a larger

society. [8] A critical tool to this approach is a model of

human nature that predicts the environmental conditions

under which humans will behave. This can help design,

manage, protect and/or restore environments that

enhance reasonable behaviour, predict the likely outcomes when these conditions are not met, and

diagnose problem situations. The field explores a diverse

range of issues including the following: the effect of

environmental stress on human performance; the

characteristics of restorative environments; human

information processing; promotion of durable

conservation behaviour. Environmental Psychology

relies on interaction with other disciplines in the design

field such as: architecture; interior design; urban

planning; industrial design; landscape architecture. [9]

NetWork is an Environmental Psychology model

proposed by Heerwagen et al [10] for the analysis,

strategy, design and provisioning of workplaces, shown

in Figure 2. It represents a change in focus from “place”

to “work,” through a thorough understanding of work as

the basis for workplace design. The model emphasizes

the importance of understanding knowledge work now

and as it evolves, and the settings in which it takes place.

Whereby organizations need to provide settings beyond

those traditionally provided by “the office” and to

develop a robust capability to continuously adapt settings

and provisions as work evolves over time. The activities of wind farm O&M within the framework of TPM

combine maintenance work activities with knowledge

work. The ‘Network’ model suggest that mobility,

collaboration and sustainable practices must be

considered holistically, as part of a larger workplace

strategy, in order to effectively support individuals and

teams. This approach to Environmental Psychology

facilitates a better definition of knowledge work and

effectively and efficiently translates that understanding to

the design, provisioning and ongoing management of

workplaces.

Due to the evolving nature of technology in the offshore

wind farm industry technicians as knowledge workers are

expected to adapt easily to new roles and ways of

thinking and to many kinds of tasks and situations. Many

knowledge-based tasks require reliable analytical and

judgment skills to carry out work that is often new or

unusual, complex and context-based. Wind farm

technicians within a company belong to a group in which

people are joined not by proximity but by common

purpose, often through electronic media. This new social

paradigm is very recent. The new social media enable

new kinds of behavior and relationships. The Internet

allows people to be constantly in contact with one

another, whereby information can be disseminate widely

and rapidly through a growing choice of media. Here

users can immerse themselves in virtual societies and

virtual worlds. Creating multiple social networks and

personalized applications to suit their preferences. These

new social behaviours can make organizations more or

less effective, depending on how they are managed and integrated into work practices and culture. They include:

alone together Virtual together; virtual immersion;

random virtual encounters; virtual self; virtual presence.

The key Marine Design challenge is to integrate new

behavioural patterns of the changing knowledge work

based nature of offshore wind technician activities with

the standard environmental psychology model of

offshore working environments. Collaboration brings

together the skills and knowledge of individuals to

develop collective knowledge and capabilities. Video

conferencing facilitates cost effective collaboration with participants in distant locations, who may never actually

meet one another. Marine Design must address this new

dynamic, to support both video conferencing and face-to-

face meetings simultaneously. The challenge here is that

a significant proportion of communication is non-verbal,

which are lost in the use of current video conferencing

technology.

Fig. 2 :NetWork, the Workplace of the Future [10]

Today's connected environment can enable work to be

location independent. This is facilitated by video conferencing, web based file sharing and social media.

Enabling global expertise to be cost effectively engaged

in collaborative activities. This connectivity regardless

of location has resulted in a blurring between working

and socializing, and has impacted the real world

geography of work. Whereby, people can work at the

office, at home and any connected location between the

two. Third places are social places that contribute to a

community identity such as restaurants and cafes. People

usually choose third places that provide engaging,

welcoming environments that are accessible, convenient



places where they can easily socialize. Most third places

are not designed workspaces, as they are for drinking

coffee, in the case of a cafe. This results in users need to

adjust the space to work there. As the lighting and

furniture ergonomics are not specifically design for the

requirements of a work space, with limited security and

privacy. Alternative places deliberately designed for

work are specialised third places called “fourth places”.

Marine Design through the implementation of

Environmental Psychology models needs to provision the wind farm technician as a mobile worker. Using an

holistic approach which is responsive to changes in both

work and social structures with the aims of enabling

technicians to be effective users of the physical and

virtual spaces that they need to use and to provide the

full range of new work settings that are needed to support

emerging and evolving work patterns and practices.

NetWork [10] is an environmental psychology model,

which encompasses both how and where work is done

and how the technicians, processes and places are

supported. NetWork differs from other models as it focuses first on the work that is to be done, and on how

to enable it to be done most effectively. Where the aim is

to provision both the technician and workspaces with

furniture, technologies, equipment and infrastructure that

enable technicians to develop effective work practices,

and to continue to adapt. This is in contrast with the

conventional approach to office design, which addresses

only the places of work, and their efficient delivery and

maintenance.

The first stage involves understanding the needs and

activities of project teams and individual technicians and translate that understanding into requirements for settings

and infrastructure. This is achieved through developing a

user scenario of the vessel based on Design-Driven

Innovation dialogue with key stakeholders. The key

activities of the WFSV mothership are focussed in the

wind farm technicians as they are not used to sea

environment and the seafaring crew are in their typical

vessel role in the context of TPM.

Essentially the vessel has the bridge crew, the wind farm

vessel crews and the wind farm technician team. The wind farm technician team consist of four groups of 12

technicians of which there are 4 lead technicians who

manage and plan the maintenance schedule through

video conferencing dialogue with harbour based team

managers and simulation and planning teams. Who

develop and refine computer based models of system

maintenance and weather windows, and communicate

with mothership crew WFSV crew and lead technicians.

Lead technicians have a responsibility for encouraging

TPM culture onboard the mothership. Breaking down the

activities of the staff in terms of area of activity:

Technician apartment: sleeping, relaxing, VC communicating with family and friends, CPD

work, individual reporting Kaisen, showering

Communal lounge: team building, relaxing,

communicating

Canteen: eating, socialising, informal team

meetings, formal team meetings

Garden: biophilic space to enable the land based

technicians to experience well-being through a

connection with nature

Changing area and stairs: a transition between

the world of work and the leisure time

accommodation space

Briefing room: for communication before shift and debriefing after shift

Gym: a space for technicians to maintain fitness

while also engaging in knowledge work such as

CPD training videos and reporting of ideas and

issue

1.2 Vessel Specification and Operation

The WFSV mothership or SOV (Service Offshore

Vessel) will be designed to operate at Dogger Bank wind

farm in the North Sea. The purpose of the vessel will be to act as a safe haven for WFSV operating at the far

shore wind farms. It will operate on a 3 weeks on-3

weeks off basis and provide accommodation and interior

design affordances through the application of

Environmental Psychology including integrated IT to

facilitate a TPS approach to O&M, for a team of 50

technicians and project managers, who will not have had

significant offshore experience. The vessel to be

designed to Lloyd's Register SPS (Special Purpose Ships)

regulations, which due to the number of special persons

involved requires an implementation of the 13-36 PYC regulations for fire safety and means of escape. The

vessel must be able to store, service and launch 3-4

WFSV in 2.5m Hs, as well as 3-4 Cabin RIBs in Hs

1.5m. These CTVs will be chartered to facilitated an

optimised O&M strategy based on weather window and

predicted maintenance scheduling. To facilitate this

O&M operation the following crew and special persons

will be required:

4x Bridge crew: Captain; 1st mate; 2nd mate;

3rd mate

6 x Engineers = 3 engineers + 3 CTV service technicians

3 x deck crew

4 x hotel staff

2 x chefs

4 x WFSV crew

1 x IT technician

50 x wind farm technicians = 12 technicians x 4

WFSV + 2 reserve

This total of 74 crew and special persons will require

individual rooms, except for the hotel staff . Resulting in a requirement for 74 rooms including two cabins for

super annuary crew.



2. EXTERIOR DESIGN AND BIOPHILIA

The stylised exterior form has a structural glass roof

feature, enclosing a large interior garden space. Inspired

by superyachts and architectural forms the exterior has

an imposing presence of architecture upon the water. The

flowing sculptural features on the upper decks and the

use of a colour break help to give the simplistic

geometric form a sense of motion and elegance, as

shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Render of final exterior form proposal

Figure 4: Plan view sketch of interior garden with CAD

render of plan view

The second stage of the NetWork platform of support

involves creating new work settings and their

infrastructure, including those tools and protocols needed

by workers outside of the work place. The following

provisioning specification for interior areas was

developed from an analysis of the identified activities,

considering the y generation approach to developing

social networks, with a focus on informal collaboration

communication.

Engaging in the principles of biophilia, the central focal

point of the design is a large interior garden space with a

light canopy, shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, to enable

previously land based technicians to experience well-being through a connection with nature. Due to the

specific nature of this user group, the mothership

platform is a SWATH to ensure minimal motion of the

vessel in the challenging weather conditions of the North

Sea. The garden space has a range of seating

configurations and seating locations designed to offer a

sense of privacy between them. To facilitate a range of

activities from individual to group socialising and

informal meetings. Connectivity is provided by tablets.

The inboard cabins connect with the garden area for

natural light, giving them the design meaning of a small apartment on land.

Figure 5: View of interior garden from seating area

Figure 6: View of interior garden from roof

3. GA AND INTERIOR DESIGN

The GA shown in Fig.7, was developed by assigning space function and examining people flow, base on the

DDI generated scenario discussed in the implementation

of NetWork model. As discussed in the previous section

a large interior garden area informed by the principles of

biophilia was a key design feature. This architectural

feature provides all the technician rooms with natural



light and the inner apartments with the design meaning of

a small apartment with balcony. To achieve a formal

demarcation between living and working in the same

space WFSVs, briefing room and changing rooms are

located in the lower decks. A perspective view of the

upper deck is shown in Figure 8. The canteen area at the

fore of the deck is shown as an empty space. The lounge

area due to a significant amount of daily usage is located

on the aft area of the vessel, where it has both a view of

the sea and internal garden. It provides a range of

adaptable spaces, booth seating and individual pod areas to facilitate individual, group and together/alone working

practices.

On the port side there is a glass walled adaptable space,

which is shown in the eight table configuration in Figure

9. The light fitting lowers on a cable system to combine

with the small tables to become a large board room table

for formal meetings as shown in Figure 10. Changing

from an office space for individuals to a meeting room

optimises space as a resource. On the starboard side of

the upper deck there is a serviced informal lounge with coffee tables and lounge chairs, it is shown in Figure 11.

The use of patterned screens with holes allows daylight

to illuminate the space while providing privacy to the

users. The 'Orbis' pods shown in Figure 12 and Figure 13

are located throughout the lounge area offering

individuals partial privacy from colleagues without

placing them in complete isolation. These pods reduce

noise from the external environment, creating a calmer,

quieter space for reflection, work, reading, and video

conferencing. Fitted with blue tooth technology, the user

can select their own music using the integrated audio

system. The base is pivoted giving the user the option to rotate the pod into a different direction to enhance the

sense of privacy.

Figure 8: Perspective view of upper deck

.

Figure 9: Adaptable knowledge work space

Figure 10: Adaptable knowledge work space

Figure 11: Informal lounge space

Figure 12: Orbis pods



Figure 13: Orbis pods

Booths seat up to eight people and can be used for business, social, recreational or individual activities,

shown in Figure 14. The high perimeter partitioning

offers privacy and reduced noise levels from outside the

booth. The booths are clustered in a semi-circle around

the central focal point of a rising spiral sculpture, planted

with succulents, as shown in Figure 15. The spiral stands

in a circular bed of pebbles planted with ferns and palms,

which grow through the core of the spiral. The technician

apartment shown in Figures 16 and 17, has natural light

to promote well being applying the principles of

biophilia. A minimalist interior design approach is used

with adjustable mood lighting to promote a positive living space. It has a computer, tablet terminal and large

screen to connect with family and friends. This facilitates

CPD and informal work communication. The en-suite

bathroom is designed to give the feel of a small

apartment rather than a commercial vessel. In-board

apartments have a view of the interior garden and those

at the perimeter have a view of the sea.

Figure 14: Booth seating module

The communal lounge facilitates formal and informal

communication and team building through providing a

range of spaces for full range of social behaviours.

Adaptability of space is critical, drop down screens and large meeting tables are used that can be transformed into

smaller tables. The implementation of individual pod

areas facilitates work in isolation, with tables providing

small group work and meeting spaces. The lounge areas

have views of either the sea or the interior garden,

engaging in biophilia. All of these facilities are optimised

through the development of communication and planning

software to allow individuals to know where people are,

what they do and what events or activities are happening.

The individual tablet is the conduit for such information.

This requires the expertise of interaction designer in the

design process for app development, which is outside the

scope of this initial proposal.

Figure 15: View of lounge area

Figure 16: View of technician apartment from entrance

Figure 17: View of technician apartment from bed

While the primary function of the dining room is eating,

the actual daily usage of the space for this activity is low.

Adaptability of the space is therefore critical to support

the objectives of the design brief. The tables have

window views, shown in Figures 18 and 19, and allow

staff to meet both formally and informally supported

through integrated IT systems such as retractable large

screens for communication and team work.

Figure 18: View of dining room from seating area



Figure 19: View of dining room from serving area

Living and working in the same space requires a formal

demarcation between activities, even though people

continue to work in fourth spaces. This is achieved by

locating the briefing room and changing room in the

lower decks. This means that the lower stairwell has to

communicate the design meaning of a transition between the formal work areas and the accommodation areas of

the vessel. The briefing room is essential for face-to-face

communication before a 12 hour maintenance shift and

afterwards for communication as a TPM activity. The

changing area shown in Figures 20 and 21, is designed as

a personal space with storage of work ware and storage

for personal items, to help the user develop an affinity

with the space. The use of simulated environment views

engages in biophilia. Given the loading time of WFSV

the changing provision is for half the total crew, using

domotic technology to identify crew members enables the changing room as a space to be shared by two crew

members at different times with security control on the

lockers, to make it a personalised space. The inclusion of

video conferencing technology to allow technicians to

make a brief connection with friends or family before

starting work will keep them socially connected.

Figure 20:View of changing room from shower

To help the technicians maintain fitness a gym is

implemented as a 4th space, fully equipped for

technicians to engage in knowledge work while

exercising on a treadmill or other exercise machine. These activities include report writing through voice

recognition software and CPD training material.

Figure 21: Perspective view of room

4. LAUNCH AND RECOVERY OF WFSV

A critical design challenge of the SOV is the

launch/recovery of the WFSV in 2.5m Hs and higher sea

states. Due to the proximity of the wet deck to the waves

in high sea states, an initial proposal was to launch the

Mainprize M002 using a retractable cantilever frame and

as shown in Figure 22. A schematic representation of the

lifting frame and winch plan is shown in Figure 23.

Figure 22: WFSV garage

Figure 23: Lifting frame and winch arrangement

A key aspect of launch/recovery of the WFSV in high

sea state is the need to constrain the motion of the vessel which the lifting frame is brought into contact with the

hull to prevent damage. To facilitate this a fendered

bollard is required for the WFSV to drive onto in order to

constrain the vessel motion. These would be vertical



tubes attached to the horizontal tube shown in Figure 22.

Where the horizontal bar is in the process of being

lowered below the waterline. This proposed solution

operates as follows:

When the transfer vessel is ready to be lifted the

bollard beam is lowered. This gives the transfer

vessels a surface to drive against at partial

throttle to restrict the relative motion and make

the lifting points easier to locate.

After the beams have been lowered the lifting

beam will be deployed 22.5m from the rear

garage. The lifting cradles will be lowered to the

water level and further lowered until their

highest point is 5.5m below the water line to

give a 3.5m clearance over the vessel’s 2m draft

in a sea state of 2.5m Hs.

The WFSV is driven onto the bollards under

partial throttle to constrain vessel motion. The

beam has a design factor of 5 against shearing

under torsion to avoid excess deflection. Once

the WFSV motion is constrained the lifting

cradle will be raised into contact with underside

of the catamaran hulls.

The FEA analysis of an initial proposal for a bollard

beam is shown in Figure 24. Where the Design Factor of

4 has been achieved for UKB steel I-beam with Max

stress = 63.6MPa. The risk of hull impact on the

horizontal beam in high sea states, combined with the

technical challenges of implementing a system in the

demi-hulls to retract the bollard beam from the water,

brought the feasibility of the solution into question.

Figure 24: FEA of initial bollard beam proposal

The lifting cradle has a design factor of 2.5 and is

constructed from universal beams. The initial design

shown in Figure 25 with four lifting points had a weight of 45 tonnes, which is over 50% of the load initially

required to be lifted. The modified design shown in

Figure 26, increased the number of lifting points to six.

This redistributed the loading enabling the weight of

these beams to be significantly reduced, reducing the

overall weight of the frame to 31 tonnes.

Figure 25:FEA of initial lifting frame design

Weight = 437kN

Max stress = 106MPa

Design factor = 2.47

Figure 26: FEA of modified lifting frame design

Weight = 295kN

Max stress = 62MPa

Design factor = 4.2

4.1 Launch/Recovery Design Solution

This initial proposal highlighted two of the key design

challenges. The first being the need to hold the vessel

sufficiently above the waterline in high sea state, the

significant moment effect of suspending 120 tons at the

back of the SWATH require a significant amount of

ballast. This proposal was a compromise between

available height of the wet deck above waterline while

maintaining vessel stability and the motion of the WFSV

in 2.5mHs+ during lifting using the rear area. The revised

design proposal shown in Figure 27, has a watertight loading bay from which the WFSV is launched

vertically. The safety issues are addressed through the

use of telescopic L shaped loading bay doors and a swing

space either side of the WFSV supported by both internal

and external fendering (not shown for clarity). Launching

form within the SOV significantly reducing the lifting

moment and hence ballast requirements. To recover the

vessel the telescoping loading bay doors are opened and

the lifting frame is lowered into the water, shown in

Figure 29. The retractable bollards are lowered into the

vertical position and locked in place. This is achieved by a single hydraulic ram supported by two structural

member which lock the bollards in the vertical position,



using a 5th wheel mechanism. The structural members

act to stabilise the bollards during side loading

conditions. When not in use the bollards are retracted

into the wet deck with a roller shutter cover. The WFSV

is driven onto the bollards at partial throttle to constrain

vessel motion. The lifting frame is then retracted lifting

the WFSV clear of the water and into the loading bay.

Any motion of the WFSV during the lifting process due

to wave impact is addressed through the swinging space

around the lifting frame and the implementation of

fendering around the loading bay.

Figure 27: WFSV on approach to SOV

Figure 28: View of lifting frame in loading bay

Figure 29: View of wet deck and retractable bollards

The lifting frame and turntable arrangement are shown in

Figure 30. As the WFSV must approach the loading bay

bow first to contact the bollard and leave the loading bay

in the direction of the transom to minimise exit time for

safety, it must be rotated through 180o. Once the lifting

frame has been retracted, the loading bay telescopic

doors are closed, and the lifting bars which are fix

pivoted to the turntable are lowered to the vertical

position and manually locked to the lifting frame, as

shown in Figure 31. The lifting cables are then removed

and the WFSV is rotated through 180o.

Figure 30: Lifting frame and turntable arrangement

Figure 31: Lifting frame with lifting bars in place

Once the WFSV is secured to the turntable with the

lifting bars and rotated through 180o, the lifting frame is

aligned with the dolly. The sled mechanism, shown in

Figure 32, is then used to pull the WFSV onto the dolly

for storage. The dolly can then be moved transversely on

the motorised track system, as shown in Figure 33. The

ability to store one dolly vertically enables four WFSV to be stored on the mothership, one of which will be in the

loading bay. A similar mechanism is used to launch and

recover Cabin RIBS from the bow area of the SOV. The

GA of the WFSV garage deck is shown in Figure 34, it

has the capacity to operate four WFSVs and four Cabin

RIBS.



Figure 32: Detail of sled mechanism

Figure 33: View of loading bay from WFSV garage

Figure 34: GA of loading bay

4.1.1. FEA of retractable bollards

Figure 35: Loads applied to bollards

Windfarm bollard J tubes on sub-station are rated to 50

tonnes acting horizontally. The worst case will be a 50

tonne force applied to the tip of the fender, this is equal

to 25 tonnes acting on each bollard beam. The reaction

forces at the support points of the frame are calculated

using loading magnitude and the frame geometry (figure

36) by moment equation methods.

Figure 36: Frame geometry

FT = 50 x 9.81kN

= 490.5kN

ΣMA = 0

ΣMA = 490.5 x (5304 + 3312) – Fx x 3312

FRX = 1276kN

FR = FRX/cos(21.2) = 1368.63kN

Area of pin material, (262MPa steel), to support the load.

σ = F/A

A = F/ σdesign

A = 0.018m2

Diameter of cylindrical pin cross section = 0.1514m

Current beam used complies with UK eurocodes for

advanced UKB

2nd moment= 1020000mm4

Initially, max stress 164MPa

Moved central node up and down, increased to 171MPa,

173MPa. Moved central node to center of depth to give

minimum stress concentration.

Loading: The thrust of the Mainprize vessel was taken to

be 32tonnes, the worst case was to have 32 tonnes

furthest from the supporting points.

The FEA analysis of the bollard is shown in Figure 37.

Max stress = 157MPa

Yield stress of structural steel (S460N) = 380MPa

Design factor = 2.4

FT

D

FRX

FR

A

C

B

3312mm

8231mm

5304mm

21.2°



Figure 37: FEA analysis of the bollard

4.1.2 FEA of Storage Frame

The FEA of the storage frame is shown in Figure 38. The

weight of the 90tonne Mainprize vessel when loaded,

including a heave loading factor to account for rough sea

conditions resulted in a load of 1471.5kN. The resulting

maximum stress was 3.2MPa. For standard structural

steel (Ys=262MPa) results of initial FEA analysis show

the current design has a high safety factor of 81, which

could be reduced to 10 and the design would still be

acceptable. The frame could be optimized for weight by removing unloaded members, reducing the number of

sub-frames and using smaller beam sections.

Figure 38: FEA of storage frame

4.1.3 FEA of Turntable Lifting Bars

The full load of the Mainprize M002 in 2.5m Hs is 150tonne in 2.5Hs. As there are 4 lifting bars, the

force on each bar is 37.5tonnes (368kN). The

design stress below is based on a safety factor of 5.

σdesign = yield stress/5 = 262/5MPa = 52.4MPa

Which requires the beam to have the following cross sectional area.

A = 368kN/52.4MPa = 70.299cm2

The closest standard beam has 76.9cm2 cross

section, resulting in a maximum stress of 48.1MPa, shown below in Figure 39.

Figure 39: FEA of lifting bar

4. DISCUSSION

A key objective in O&M is the reduction in operational

cost. In this SOV proposal it is achieved through a multi vessel O&M strategy, in which Cabin RIBS can operate

in 1.5m Hs or possibly higher with the use of innovative

fendering and motion seats. Offering both a significant

fuel cost saving and an acquisition cost which is less than

10% that of a catamaran WFSV. Advances in catamaran

design could potentially result in vessels capable of 3.0m

Hs, which currently is only achievable by using a

SWATH type vessel, which have significantly higher

fuel consumption than a catamaran.

The critical design challenge of this SOV was the

launch/recovery of the catamarans and Cabin RIBs. Here there was a need for design compromise between

operational safety and mothership stability. Having

sufficient wet deck height to safely lift the WFSV above

the waves through a horizontal door in the wet deck

would make the vessel unstable. The initial concept of a

transom mounted cantilever davit solved the wave height

issue but produce a significant increase in loading

moment requiring significant ballasting. The wide

loading bay with fendering is a compromise significantly

reducing ballasting requirements and addressing risk of

impact relating to vessel movement caused by high sea states. In the initial proposal there was a significant risk

of the vessel grounding on the horizontal bar of the

bollards. The revised proposal resolves this issue through

the implementation of a retractable structurally stabilized

bollard structure capable of supporting an appropriate

level of side load.To lift under designed load sea

conditions the WFSV must be lifted rapidly out of the

air/water interface to avoid impact loading after the



initial lift contact. The winches installed should be

tension compensated to ensure the load on the lifting

system does not exceed the design load off the lifting

equipment. There should also be a latching system

implemented between the hulls and the lifting cradle so

that they are in constant contact, this would avoid snap

loading. These features will be developed in the further

work of the authors.

The transfer of crew and equipment to the turbine is a

critical part of the process for safety of the personnel and for the transfer of the maintenance equipment. The

turbine structure is fixed to the seabed while the transfer

vessels are subject to wave motion. Current operations

are carried out in 2.5mHs sea conditions however

2.5mHs only describes the height. The main point from

the sea condition is how the heave rate of the transfer

vessel is affected during the transfer of personnel and

equipment, this describes how much the vessel is

accelerating. This takes account of the height of the wave

and the period. Due to the direction of the waves/sea the

boat will display different characteristics of heave rate depending on its location around the turbine mast. There

will be a point where the heave rate is at its lowest and if

this could be accessed and moored to, it would be the

safest point for the transfer to take place. The same

principles are a key consideration for the launch/recovery

of the WFSV from/to the mothership. The authors will be

developing solutions to address this challenge in further

work.

Vessels for installation and O&M have to attract the

digitally native generation to a new sector, that must

compete with land based as well as offshore careers. This was identified as a key rationale for the development of

next generation motherships by McCartan et al [4]. To

ensure recruitment and retention the interior design and

user experience must engage the emotional design needs

of the user. This is achieved by engaging in biophilia

through the principles of Environmental Psychology in

the design process. On this basis a Design-Driven

Innovation approach to the implementation of the

NetWork Environmental Psychology model was used.

The GA and interior design detail were developed

through DDI dialogue with design interpreters including: operators; Naval Architect consultancies specialising in

Wind farm and accommodation vessels; superyacht

designers; interior designers. As part of which the

developed scenario of operation and activity considered

the needs of individuals in terms of operational task,

communication and leisure time. The use of different

types of space facilitates the full range of social

behaviours.

The new social behaviours can make organizations more

effective, when they are managed and integrated into

work practices and culture, through an effective implementation of technology addressing the challenges

they pose. These are [10]:

Alone together – working in the presence of other people

but not interacting with them. As people prefer to avoid

isolation and can find motivation in the atmosphere of a

crowd.

Virtual together – working with people in widely

dispersed locations, connected through video

conferencing technology. Here initial face-to-face

meetings are required to establish a rapport.

Virtual immersion – using media to create, learn and play. Such as the use virtual games to develop skills and

test knowledge in ways that are more engaging and

realistic than standard training methods.

Random virtual encounters – Internet applications can

provide random connections to people located in

different places. Forums, message boards and chat rooms

draw strangers together, usually around some common

interest, such as Linkedin.

Virtual self –Realistic avatars representing people at virtual meetings. This has the potential to support the

critical communication that occurs via the nuances of

social behaviour and create a sense of belonging.

Virtual presence – using video cameras to monitor

what’s happening at a remote site: the turbine;

technician's home; technicians children’s day care centre.

This facilitates both the TPM process and the social

connection required to support the challenges of working

away from home on a 3 weeks on/ 3 weeks off work

pattern.

All of these social behaviours have been implemented in

the range of spaces designed, through the DDI developed

scenario. The objective of which was to achieve a

positive living environment and a productive low stress

working environment. Where the application of

Environmental Psychology is a Transfer of Innovation

from the built environment to the commercial marine

sector. This is an integral part of the Marine Design

process which is a Human Systems Integration approach.

Human Factors approaches can significantly reduce

through life design costs of vessel and systems. As an example of HF implementation, incidents and accidents

in the Maersk shipping company decreased by a third

after the introduction of Bridge Resource Management

(BRM) training. Resulting in the reduction of insurance

premiums by 15%. [11]

5. CONCLUSION

The mothership proposal addresses the key issue of

offshore wind O&M operation costs, through facilitating

an optmised O&M strategy based on two vessel types

with very different Hs capability and operational cost. This has been achieved through a proposed technology

innovation in the launch and recovery system. The

proposed exterior form needs to be evaluated in terms of



the emotional response of stakeholders. Given the

significant ‘knowledge work’ nature of the technicians

role in the O&M activities in the offshore wind sector,

Environmental Psychology offers a significant

opportunity for Transfer of Innovation from the built

environment to the commercial marine sector. The

‘NetWork’ model [10] offers a more complete approach

to the support for work based on thoroughly

understanding what work is and how it is carried out;

provisioning individuals, teams and the places over

which the organization has control or influence. As part of a Human Systems Integration approach it would have

a similar potential to BRM in terms of reduce operating

costs such as insurance. The critical activity for Marine

Designers is to engage in the development of DDI

scenario with stakeholders which delineates the

behaviours and processes that are most important and

then to evaluate the design proposals through further

dialogue with stakeholders.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank Captain Bob Mainprize of

Mainprize Offshore Ltd, for his permission to use the

M02 Wind Farm Support Vessel in this project and for

the significant technical discussion and user perspective

he contributed to the Design-Driven Innovation Process.

The authors also wish to thank Dr Albert Nazarov of

Albatross Marine Design for providing the Cabin RIB

design for this project and his support in technical

discussions. The authors gratefully acknowledge the

grant support received to carry out the work presented in

this paper as an integral part of the Leonardo TOI funded

project EBDIG-WFSV, funded under the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, grant number: UK/13/LLP-

LdV/TOI-621. The content of the publication is the sole

responsibility of the authors, the European Commission

is not liable for any use that may be made of the

information. The initial exterior concept and GA were

developed by Daniel Caddick and the detailed interior

concepts by Mark Hopper and Wrox James during their

professional internship with EBDIG-IRC. All of whom

are students of the Department of Industrial Design at

Coventry University.

7. REFERENCES

1. ARAPOGIANNI, A., MOCCIA, J., WILKES,

J., and GENACHTE, A-B., ' Where's the money

coming from? Financing offshore wind farms',

report by the European Wind Energy

Association Published November 2013 ISBN:

978-2-930670-06-5

2. MOCCIA, J., European Wind Energy

Association (EWEA) Justin Wilkes (EWEA),

Iván Pineda (EWEA) and Giorgio Corbetta Wind energy scenarios for 2020. report by the

European Wind Energy Association, July 2014

3. European Wind Energy Technology Platform

Strategic Research Agenda /Market Deployment

Strategy March 2014

4. MCCARTAN, S., VERHEIJDEN, B.,

LUTZHOFT, M., and BOOTE, D., 'Design-

Driven Innovation: Mothership concepts for

accessing the far shore wind farms', RINA

Conference: Design & Operation of Wind Farm

Support Vessels, RINA HQ, London, 29-30

January 2014.

5. BROWN,H., and BRUCE, A., 'Offshore Wind

Programme Board 2015 Annual Report',

RenewableUK, March 2015

6. LIKER, J.K., 'The Toyota Way: 14 management

principles from the worlds greatest

manufacturer', McGraw-Hill publishing, New

York, 2004

7. SUZUKI, T.,'TPM Project Management', ISBN: 978-8190356473, 2012

8. DE YOUNG, R., 'Environmental Psychology

Overview', In Ann H. HUFFMAN, A.H., and

KLEIN, S., 'Green Organizations: Driving

Change with IO Psychology', p.17-33,

Routledge, 2013.

9. GIFFORD, R., 'Environmental Psychology:

Principles and Practice', (4th ed.). Colville,

WA: Optimal Books, 2007.

10. HEERWAGEN, J., ANDERSON, D., and

PORTER, W.,' NetWork: The Future

Workplace', Allsteel commissioned paper,

2012, available at

http://cms.allsteeloffice.com/SynergyDocument

s/FinalNetWorkPaper.pdf, accessed 05/01/15.

11. Byrdorf, P., Human Factors and Crew Resource

Management. An example of successfully

applying the experience from CRM

programmes in the Aviation World to the Maritime World. Paper presented at the 23rd

Conference of the European Association for

Aviation Psychology, September, Vienna, 1998.

9. AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY

Dr Sean McCartan holds the current position of Course

Tutor, Boat Design at Coventry University, UK. His key

research area is TOI (Transfer of Innovation) from other

sectors to the marine industry, in the areas of Design-

Driven Innovation (DDI), advanced visualisation and

Human Systems Integration(HSI). He leads the EBDIG (European Boat Design Innovation Group) network,

which includes Chalmers University; Genoa University;

TU-Delft; and a number of leading European marine

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259286195_Environmental_Psychology_Overview







design consultancies. He is currently project co-ordinator

for the Leonardo TOI project EBDIG-WFSV (European

Boat Design Innovation Group - Wind Farm Support

Vessels), which aims to develop online training material

for Naval Architects in the subject areas of: Human

Factors; WFSV design (Industrial Design); WFSV

mothership design (Industrial Design).

Tim Thompson holds the current position of part-time

CAD lecturer in the Department of Industrial Design at

Coventry University, UK. He is currently project Research Assistant for the Leonardo TOI project

EBDIG-WFSV (European Boat Design Innovation

Group - Wind Farm Support Vessels). His CAD teaching

is informed by his professional practice within his design

consultancy, which specialises in photorealistic

visualisation for the superyacht design and interior

design industry.

Bob Verheijden holds the current position of Head of

Department Design, Academy Minerva, Groningen, NL

He has over 20 years professional practice in the following disciplines: architecture; urban planning;

interior design; product design; multimedia; brand

development. He is a Member of the BKVB (The

Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and

Architecture), and has won a number of prestigious

awards for his architectural and furniture designs.

Prof Dario Boote holds the current position of Ship

Structure Professor at the Naval Architecture section of

the Department of Electrical, Electronic, Tele-

communications Engineering and Naval Architecture

(DITEN) of the University of Genoa. He is the Chairman of the Bachelor and Master Course in Yacht Design in La

Spezia. His initial experiences include a long research

activity in the field of Ship and Offshore Structures

followed, since 2000, by an intense activity in the field of

sailing and motor yachts. From 2009 to 2012 he has been

Chairman of the V.8 ISSC Committee on "Yacht Design"

Dr Tommaso Colaianni, graduated in 2001 at

Department of Naval Architecture and Marine

Engineering of the Genova University, he has a PhD in

Ship Design, specialized in Unconventional Ships, mainly involved in researches about ships structures

design using numerical methods. He is also a free-lance

technical consultant

Ian McFarlane currently holds the position of Business

Development Manager at Romica Engineering Ltd. He is

a results-orientated Senior Sales Executive/Head of

Business Development with a background within the

marine industry and over 10 years’ experience in

developing and implementing innovative product sales

and business development strategies for prestigious

organisations in the maritime sector.

Daniel Rose is currently a Engineering placement

student with Romica Engineering Ltd.

Christopher Anderberg is working with development

of Offshore and Dynamic Positioning Operations in the

division Maritime Human Factors and Navigation. After

completed master studies and BSc degree at Chalmers

University of Technology, he worked in

Walleniusrederierna as mate of ocean-going fleet.

Eventually he joined a "Bowloading Tanker" in the North

Sea. He has participated in several advanced operations

in Dynamic Positioning (DP), anchor handling, ice

management, offshore support, and more. Several of these have been implemented in Arctic environments

Henrik Pahlm currently holds the position of lecturer

and head of division of Maritime Environment and

Energy Systems at Chalmers University of Tecnology.

He has a background as Marine engineer mostly working

as Chief engineer and 1st engineer during the last

decades. Henrik also has a MSc in Shipping and Marine

Technology. He is teaching and supervising in different

subjects within the competence area.



Figure 7: GA of SWATH Mothership

A SWATH MOTHERSHIP CONCEPT FOR THE FAR SHORE WIND FARMS USING THE ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK...

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