Fundamental Research on the Behaviors of Floating Vessels Moored to Floating Piers in Tsunami

Tsunami disasters of floating vessels moored to a quay are complex, such as breaking of the mooring lines and then drifting and collision of floating vessels. There was an example in which a mooring tether of a ship moored to a floating pier did not break in the damage of tsunami. This was confirmed in Shiogama Harbor in Miyagi Prefecture during the East Japan great earthquake which occurred on March 11, 2011. The objectives of this paper are to clarify the effect of reducing mooring tether force in the case of a ship moored to a floating pier, by means of the 3D-MPS method, as well as the advantages of a floating pier for a fixed mooring quay. In addition, in this paper the authors discuss the following items: 1) force of a tsunami wave on the piles of a floating pier; and 2) response characteristics for various incidence angles. Also, we propose measures to prevent drift of a floating pier in tsunami. Finally, these results are used for development of a floating pier for prevention of a vessel being washed away by tsunami.Copyright © 2013 by ASME