Bow impact loading on FPSOs 1-Experimental investigation

Steep wave impact pressures and the structural dynamic response of floating production storage and offloading platform (FPSO) bows are studied using 1:80 scale segmented, instrumented models. The construction of these segmented models is discussed. The 'new-wave' theory is adopted and extended to generate steep waves and a limiting form of steep wave that might be found in deep water is proposed. A comparison between linear theoretical, experimental and suggested wave models is made. Experimental results with systemically varying parameters are presented.