Comprehensive Evaluation of Ship Maneuverability Based on Cluster Analysis

Aiming at the uncertainties such as human's subjectivity of evaluation index weight and inconsistent distribution in ship maneuverability evaluation, Cluster Analysis, which is a comprehensive evaluation method of ship maneuverability, is proposed. Based on IMO maneuverability index, this method regards one ship with multiple maneuverability evaluation factors as a point in multidimensional space, uses Euclidean distance to measure the similarity between sample points, and classifies and evaluates ship maneuverability. By analyzing and calculating the maneuverability experimental data of 8 ships, the maneuverability of each ship is ranked. The results show that the method is not only scientific and objective in theory, but also simple and reliable in practical application. It is helpful to improve the objectivity of comprehensive evaluation of ship maneuverability.