VESSEL-INDUCED SURGE MODEL VALIDATION IN A COMPLEX HARBOR USING FIELD MEASUREMENTS AND AIS DATA

Resumen

Large ships moving in narrow waterways generate complex hydrodynamic phenomena, which can cause extreme forces and moments on berthed vessels, and damage shoreline structures and marine habitat. Deep-draft vessels can generate complex phenomena such as bow solitary waves, broken supercritical bore waves, and ship-induced harbor seiche/oscillations. Particular focus is paid in the present paper to simulation and validation of the Vessel Hydrodynamics Longwave Unsteady (VH-LU) modeling system (Fenical et al. 2006) for these complex hydrodynamic phenomena, in particular sloshing and resonance of vessel-induced waves in the complex harbor of Port Canaveral, FL. This paper summarizes two field measurement campaigns and utilization of high-resolution AIS data to provide detailed input for model validation. Analysis indicates that the modeling system is able to reproduce water level oscillations generated by individual vessels, oscillation interactions within the harbor, and interactions between separate basins in the harbor over time. Previous publications have provided limited information on validations performed with the VH-LU modeling system (e.g. Fenical et al. 2011). The model has been shown to accurately reproduce hydrodynamics and berthed vessel forces on tankers in open water conditions, hydrodynamics and loads on berthed Panamax container ships against a vertical quay wall, and supercritical flow and broken bore formation and propagation. This paper will summarize the complete range of model validations with the highest-quality openly available laboratory data, and provide recommendations for future studies and research based on observed needs from practical applications.