Laboratory study of plunging wave impacts on vertical cylinders

Abstract

The characteristics of pressures associated with plunging wave impacts on a vertical cylinder are presented. Despite a high variability in the peak pressures, spatial distributions of the impact pressure time histories, both in the vertical direction and around the seaward front of the cylindrical surface, are found to vary systematically for a range of cylinder locations in the wave plunging region. Through correlations between the incident wave kinematics and the impact pressures, the mechanics of the impact process have been identified and elucidated. These results serve as a useful reference for future numerical and theoretical modelling of extreme wave loads on surface-piercing vertical cylinders. © 1995.