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Foreword: The American Bureau of Shipping recognizes the overall ship vibration as an important measure to ensure the habitability, safety and functionality of the vessels. The ABS Guidance Notes on Ship Vibration have been developed to provide users with specific guidance on the design, analysis, measurement procedures and criteria in order to achieve the goal of limiting the ship vibration to an acceptable level. In the text herein, this document is referred to as "these Guidance Notes".

The design and construction of the hull, superstructure, and deckhouse of a steel vessel are to be based on all applicable requirements of the ABS Rules for Building and Classing Steel Vessels (Steel Vessel Rules 2006). Specifically, for the Container Carriers over 130 meters in length, the ABS Steel Vessel Rules require the consideration of vibratory responses of hull structures, as applicable (5-5-3/13.1). For the LNG Carriers, the ABS Steel Vessel Rules require special attention to the possible collapse of membrane due to hull vibration (5-8-4/4.2). In conjunction with the propulsion shaft alignment, the ABS Steel Vessel Rules require the consideration of propulsion shaft vibrations (4-3-2/7). For the cargo and passenger vessels, the Bureau provides optional classification notations for crew habitability and passenger comfort (ABS Guide for Passenger Comfort on Ships and Guide for Crew Habitability on Ships). Also the Bureau provides Condition Monitoring Program for machinery vibration (7-A-14/5.1.2 ABS Guide for Surveys Based on Preventative Maintenance Techniques).

These Guidance Notes provide practical guidelines on the concept design to assist ship designers to avoid excessive shipboard vibration at an early design stage. These Guidance Notes also assist with the finite element analysis (FEA) based vibration analysis procedure to calculate the vibration response and evaluate the design at detail design stage. The analysis procedure represents the current analysis practice in the Bureau. These Guidance Notes also offer guidelines on the vibration measurement procedure at sea trials and the acceptance criteria on vibration limits based on the international standards and the practice in the Bureau.

These Guidance Notes are issued in 2006. Users of these Guidance Notes are welcome to contact the Bureau with questions or comments concerning these Guidance Notes. Users are advised to check periodically with the Bureau to ensure that this version of these Guidance Notes is current.