Experimental investigation of the wave induced load on cross deck of a semi-swath vessel in regular waves at different speeds

In recent years, multi-hull vessels due to their special features such as good seakeeping, high hydrostatic stability, low hydrodynamic resistance and large deck area have been considered by architects and designers and a lot of research is under taken on their. One of these vessel is a SWATH that consists of two or more submerged under water hulls and a cross deck that bodies connected together by cross deck. In these ship, wave loading on the cross deck is of particular importance that in the preliminary design phase the forces and moments on this part of the structure should be determined. In this paper, the modified body of a swath, called semi-swath has been produced and determined wave induced forces at zero speed and at different forward speeds in regular waves with the installation of multi-axis load cells on cross structure. The results show that the maximum force is related to the force Fz (force in the direction of the model transverse axis) and the lowest force in Fy (force along the longitudinal axis) is observed. In the case of moments, the moment is also about the longitudinal axis (maximum) and the lowest moment with a large difference is Mz (torque about the transverse axis). The existnce of Kinks and the creation of maximum and minimum points on the diagrams indicates the coupling of the heave and pitch motion with the forces and moments of thc cross deck of vessel.