Impact Pressure, Void Fraction, and Green Water Velocity due to Plunging Breaking Wave Impingement on a 2D Tension-Leg Structure

Violent impacts due to plunging waves impinging on a 2D tension-leg model structure were experimentally investigated in a laboratory. In the experiment, velocities, pressures, and void fraction were simultaneously measured and the relationship among them was examined. The nonintrusive bubble image velocimetry technique was employed to quantify the instantaneous bubbly flow velocities and structure motion. Pressures on the structure vertical wall above the still water level were measured by four differential pressure sensors. Additionally, four fiber optic reflectometer probes were used to measure the void fraction coincidently with the pressure sensors. With repeated simultaneous, coincident velocity, pressure and void fraction measurements, temporal evolution of the ensemble-averaged velocities, pressures, and void fraction were demonstrated and correlated. Relationship between the peak pressures and their rise time was examined and summarized in dimensionless form. Impact coefficients that relate the impact pressure with flow kinetic energy were obtained from the ensemble-averaged measurements. Finally, the impact coefficients with and without the consideration of the fluid density variation due to bubbles were examined and compared.