Investigations of offshore breaking wave impacts on a large offshore structure

The results show that for the four wave impact types tested good agreement was achieved between numerical predictions and experimental measurements of surface elevation, run up and impact force. The peak pressures predicted by the simulation are lower than the experimentally measured results due to time step constraints, although the shape of the pressure time history is very similar. Four distinct wave impact types are identified for the vertical hull section and are found to be similar in character to those observed for a full depth vertical wall. The predicted force on the hull is found to be greatest for the large air pocket impact, and the highest run-up for the slightly-breaking wave impact. The pressure records show a high degree of spatial and temporal variation though the highest pressure recorded at any location was due to flip-through. This research has shown that different characteristic wave impact types are responsible for maximum load and greatest wave run-up and so need to be considered separately for design purposes.