Model experiments on moored ships

At present the position keeping of ocean going vessels, offshore service vessels, etc., is performed by mooring systems to resist external forces under severe environments consisting of wave, current and wind. A variety of mooring systems are employed depending on the shape, principal dimensions, etc., of the vessels in addition to the surrounding conditions of the water areas. Ocean going ships are moored to the shore structures through a multiple system of moorings. The determination of the forces in the cables is essential for the design of moorings and the berthing structures. However, the ships engaged for offshore operations are moored by the mooring cables, spread around the ships with the other ends of the moorings anchored to the sea bed. In these cases, the required number and length of cables can be arrived for a given ship of known dimensions and environmental conditions. With the increased overall dimensions of the vessels, it is necessary to conduct a study on enhancing the accuracy in estimating the mooring system performance. Hence, the present work is mainly intended to carry out model tests to investigate the behaviour of moored ships that are subjected to wave and current loadings. These model experiments were conducted in a 30 m x 2 m x 1m wave-current flume at the Ocean Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.