The Distribution of Breaking and Non-Breaking Wave Impact Forces

Abstract

Abstract : The magnitude of wave impact loads varies greatly, depending upon whether the wave is breaking, as well as on the wave height, length, steepness, and the geometry and immersion of the impacted structure. This report describes an experiment that was performed to characterize the distribution of breaking and non-breaking wave impact loads over a surface, similar to those performed in 2005 with non-breaking wave impact loads and those performed in 2007 with breaking wave impact loads. In those experiments, the average loads were measured on a flat plate and a cylinder. In order to better understand the distribution of forces over a surface, the impact pressures in this experiment were measured on an instrumented test cube by using an array of slam panels and pressure gages. Plots of impact magnitude trends with wave height, wavelength, draft, and impact angle are presented. Overall, average impact pressures from the breaking waves are greater in magnitude than the impact pressures from the non-breaking waves and average impact pressures tend to increase with increased speed, though there was a dip in pressure at an intermediate speed for some panel locations.