Patterns and vertical loads in water shipping in systematic wet dam-break experiments

Abstract

Water shipping on the deck of structures is a problem in marine environments. Different types of shipping water events can be expected, and systematic experiments are required to better understand their behavior. In this work, systematic experiments were carried out to analyse some patterns of shipping water events and the related vertical loads on the deck of a rectangular fixed structure, using the wet dam-break method to generate the incident waves. The influence of bores generated with different wet dam-break ratios on the resultant water shipping patterns and the trends of vertical loads on the structure was investigated. Conventional wave probes, a force balance and a high-speed camera were synchronized in a controlled environment for the investigation. The results allowed a detailed visualization of different types of shipping water events, mainly differentiated by the formation of different sized cavities at the bow of the structure. Quasi-static vertical loads over the deck generated by the events were presented, including forward and backflow loading. This approach can be useful when performing simplified analyses to investigate the details of shipping water behavior and for acquiring detailed data for model validations.