Experimental Study of the Local Wave Velocity Field During a Wave Impact Occurrence

The velocity field in the wave crest zone during wave impact phenomena was successfully measured using a 2 component PIV technique with a simplified two dimensional box model in a wave tank. Measurements were made for two different regular wave conditions and of the undisturbed wave field for the two wave conditions in order to study the influence of the modeled platform deck. The measurements of the wave velocity field showed that for the higher amplitude wave condition, vertical velocity components were amplified in the wave run up region, and away from this region, were not as heavily influenced as the horizontal velocity component. For the smaller wave amplitude vertical velocity components were reduced slightly, whereas the horizontal velocity components did not seem to be influenced. The measurements showed that the PIV technique is a practical and feasible tool in which to study and measure the wave velocity field, but it does come with some limitations.Copyright © 2009 by ASME