Experimental Study on Wave Impact under Deck due to Regular Waves

Wave forces acting on the lower decks of offshore platforms can cause significant structural damage and play an important role in the design of offshore structures. In this study, the wave impact phenomena under horizontal decks of offshore structures were investigated with a series of laboratory experiments measuring vertical global forces and local pressure distributions on fixed horizontal plate subjected to regular waves varying wave height, wave period, and deck clearance. The local pressure data under the deck was used to assess the impulsiveness at each location for various wave conditions and deck clearances. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was employed to obtain the velocity fields under the deck, which were synchronized with vertical forces and local pressure data. The water velocity profiles during wave loading under deck were compared with velocity profiles of incoming regular waves without the deck and presented the deformation of wave kinematics at each phase of the predominant vertical force change to understand the wave impact phenomena.