Richard Mercier

Relation Between Flow Velocity and Impact Pressure in a Green Water Flow

Impact pressure due to plunging breaking waves impinging on a simplified model structure was investigated in the laboratory based on two breaking wave conditions: the wall impingement wave condition and the deck impingement wave condition. Pressure, void fraction, and velocities were measured at various locations on the deck surface. Impact pressure was correlated with the mean kinetic energy calculated based on the measured mean velocities and void fraction to obtain the impact coefficient. For the wall impingement wave condition, the relationship between impact pressure and mean kinetic energy is linear with the impact coefficient close to unity. For the deck impingement wave condition, the above relationship does not show good correlation, whereas the impact coefficient was found to be a function of the rate of pressure rise.© 2013 ASME

Velocity, Pressure, and Dam-Break Similarity of Green Water Flow on a 3D Structure

Flow dynamics of green water due to plunging breaking waves interacting with a simplified, three-dimensional model structure was investigated in laboratory. Two breaking wave conditions were tested: one with waves impinging and breaking on the vertical wall of the model at the still water level (referred as wall impingement) and the other with waves impinging and breaking on the horizontal deck surface (referred as deck impingement). The bubble image velocimetry (BIV) technique was used to measure the flow velocity. Measurements were taken on a vertical plane located at the center of the deck surface and a horizontal plane located slightly above the deck surface. The applicability of dam-break theory on green water velocity prediction for the three-dimensional model was also investigated. Furthermore, pressure measurements were performed at several locations above the horizontal deck surface for the wall impingement wave condition. Predictions of maximum impact pressure based on the measured pressure and flow velocities were investigated using the impact coefficient approach that links pressure with kinetic energy.Copyright