Experimental study on rectangular barge in beam sea

This study presents laboratory observations of flow characteristics for regular waves passing a rectangular barge in a two dimensional wave tank. The rectangular barge was fixed and free to roll (one degree of freedom) in a beam sea. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to measure the velocity field in the vicinity of the structure. The mean velocity and turbulence properties were obtained by phase-averaging the velocity profiles from repeated test runs. The quantitative flow characteristics were represented to elucidate the coupled interactions between the regular wave and the barge in roll motion or fixed condition. Additionally, the turbulence properties including the turbulence length scale and the turbulent kinetic energy budget were investigated to characterize the flow pattern due to the wave interaction. Because all the data including wave elevations, roll motion, and dynamic pressure were synchronized with velocity profiles, the results between the roll motion and the fixed condition were compared. The viscous effects due to the flow separation depend on the relative relation between the wave water particle motion and the roll motion of the barge. The viscous damping mechanism that reduces the roll motion at the roll natural period wave is illustrated. It shows that the vortex flow was mainly induced by the roll motion. For wave periods longer than the roll natural period, the flow was separated in different directions accompanying the roll natural period wave. The longer waves may help the roll motion with the vortex flow predominantly separated by the wave water particle motion rather than the barge motion. This may be called the viscous exciting effect. Moreover, the variations of dynamic pressures near the corners were measured and analyzed along with the viscous effect for both the roll motion and the fixed barge cases.