A comprehensive study on ship motion and load responses in short-crested irregular waves

Wave-induced ship motion and load responses are usually investigated on the assumption that the incident waves are long-crested. The realistic sea waves are however short-crested irregular waves. Real practice reveals that the ship motion and load responses induced by short-crested waves are different from those induced by long-crested waves. This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive study on ship motions and loads in different wave fields. For this purpose, comparative studies by small-scale model towing tank test and large-scale model sea trial are conducted to experimentally identify the difference between ship motions and loads in long-crested and short-crested irregular waves. Moreover, the influences of directional spreading function of short-crested waves on ship motions and loads are analyzed by numerical seakeeping calculation. The results and conclusions obtained from this study are of great significance for the further extrapolation and estimation of ship motions and loads in short-crested waves based on long-crested wave response results. (C) 2018 Society of Naval Architects of Korea. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.