The hull excitation generated by marine propellers constitutes one of the most significant vibration sources affecting comfort on passenger ships. Consequently, the evaluation of the propeller-generated excitation through reliable numerical tools during the preliminary stage of ship design is fundamental. The Holden Method (HM) is an empirical tool utilized to calculate the propeller-induced pressure distribution on a ship hull. The present paper validates the HM, which is applied to a twin-screw, 54-m super-yacht. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to benchmark the HM numerical predictions against a set of full-scale vibration measures. The outcomes show that the magnitude of the propeller-induced dynamic excitation predicted by the HM is overestimated. Thereafter, the calibrated propeller-induced forces and the diesel engine excitation are applied to the FE model to perform a series of forced vibration analyses and estimate the global structural damping coefficient of the super-yacht. The study highlights the necessity of developing new empirical methodologies, analogous to the HM, to be applied to modern small luxury vessels.
