Effect of ship length on the vertical bending moments induced by abnormal waves

The paper presents an analysis of the effects of ship dimensions on the vertical bending moments induced by abnormal waves. The abnormal waves are realistic since they were measured during storms, and are believed to represent some of the worst events that the ships could encounter during storms of that intensity. The magnitude of the global loads induced by these abnormal waves compared to the hull strength will depend on the relation between the wavelength and the ship length. This aspect is investigated by carrying out calculations for various similar containerships with lengths between 100 m and 350 m. All geometric and mass properties are Froude scaled between different sizes of the ships. The calculations are carried out with a time domain seakeeping program which solves equations of motions and structural loads that include the most important nonlinear terms.