Hydrodynamic Coefficients of a Mooring Tower

Wave tank tests have been performed on an articulated tower in order to determine the hydrodynamic coefficients associated with the tower. The tower was a uniform diameter rigid cylinder and incorporated a localized load sensing device. It was tested in three different phases: 1) fixed in regular waves, 2) mechanically oscillated in still water, and 3) free to move in the direction of regular waves. Thus, different forms of the Morison equation could be compared. The forces on the small load sensing segment were measured and the coefficients were correlated with local values of KC and Re. It is found that the data for the hydrodynamic coefficients for fixed cylinders in waves and mechanically oscillated cylinders in still water are reasonably applicable to articulated cylinders in waves.