Experimental study for characteristics of slamming loads on bow of a ship-type FPSO under breaking and irregular wave conditions

An experimental investigation of the characteristics of the slamming impact loads on the bow of a ship-type Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) under breaking and irregular wave conditions was conducted. The breaking waves were generated by the focusing wave method and three different heading angles were applied. To examine the repeatability of the slamming loads, the model experiments were repeated 20 times for each heading condition. The slamming impact loads were measured using 15 force sensors attached to the bow of the FPSO unit model, while force panels were used to measure the local impact loads. The locations of the largest slamming impact loads were observed to vary with the heading angle. Two types of slamming impact loads were identified and damping was also observed in the slamming impact load with two peaks. Irregular wave tests conducted under oblique wave conditions were further used to investigate the characteristics of the slamming impact loads, and the velocities of the directional sway and roll motions were found to be significant determinants of the slamming impact load.