Experimental Investigations of Global Motions and Loads of Containership

Abstract A fully elastic containership model was experimentally tested in head sea and bow quartering sea conditions to investigate the effects of wave steepness and towing speed on global motions and loads. The study analyzed heave and pitch motions across different Froude numbers (Fn = 0.15 and Fn = 0.25), as well as vertical bending moment, vertical shear force, and torsional moment under varying wave conditions. The nonlinear behavior of global loads was examined, particularly in large wave amplitude cases. Finally, a linear numerical model, validated against the experimental data, was used to predict extreme responses of global motions and loads.