| Summary: |
Operational and security conditions in a port terminal are closely related with the behavior of moored ships, namely with the ship motions amplitude and the magnitude of the forces in the mooring lines and fenders.
The behavior of moored ships does not present a simple relationship with the incident wave heights, but it is dependent of many parameters such like, incident wave period, wave grouping, wave direction relative to the berthing structure, characteristics of the moored ship and berthing structure, elastic characteristics of the mooring lines and fenders, among others.
The port berthing and mooring structures are therefore submitted, directly and indirectly, to several types of forcing loads, with different natures, that confer themselves a real complexity and in many cases an objective difficulty in its analysis and knowledge, for a more efficient management of the activities associated to these structures, within the port environment.
These forcing loads are related with wave hydrodynamics in the structure surrounding area (phenomena such as reflection, refraction, breaking, diffraction, seiches, etc.), with vessels motions during berthing and mooring and with exceptional interactions that could also occur in the system ship/mooring system/fender/structure.
The interconnection between the different parts of this system is quite complex, that demands a continued research effort; in particular in the analysis and study of real cases, whose conclusions could have practical applicability and some generalization to similar cases.
Due to the diversity and complexity of the present phenomena, to deal with the problem it is important to use a methodology that combines the use of physical models tests with numerical simulations, taking advantage of potential synergies. Results of prototype measurements, although for a limited range of conditions not controllable by the researcher, are also a key element in this study, making possible the validation and cali  |
Summary
Operational and security conditions in a port terminal are closely related with the behavior of moored ships, namely with the ship motions amplitude and the magnitude of the forces in the mooring lines and fenders.
The behavior of moored ships does not present a simple relationship with the incident wave heights, but it is dependent of many parameters such like, incident wave period, wave grouping, wave direction relative to the berthing structure, characteristics of the moored ship and berthing structure, elastic characteristics of the mooring lines and fenders, among others.
The port berthing and mooring structures are therefore submitted, directly and indirectly, to several types of forcing loads, with different natures, that confer themselves a real complexity and in many cases an objective difficulty in its analysis and knowledge, for a more efficient management of the activities associated to these structures, within the port environment.
These forcing loads are related with wave hydrodynamics in the structure surrounding area (phenomena such as reflection, refraction, breaking, diffraction, seiches, etc.), with vessels motions during berthing and mooring and with exceptional interactions that could also occur in the system ship/mooring system/fender/structure.
The interconnection between the different parts of this system is quite complex, that demands a continued research effort; in particular in the analysis and study of real cases, whose conclusions could have practical applicability and some generalization to similar cases.
Due to the diversity and complexity of the present phenomena, to deal with the problem it is important to use a methodology that combines the use of physical models tests with numerical simulations, taking advantage of potential synergies. Results of prototype measurements, although for a limited range of conditions not controllable by the researcher, are also a key element in this study, making possible the validation and calibration of both physical and numerical models.
Prototype data, experimental simulations in wave tank and computational programs are going to be used in this research project. The aim is to present innovative contributions to the conception and design of mooring and berthing structures, in particular the dolphins (including mooring and fender systems), in order to improve the operational conditions at port terminals, through the reduction of the moored ship motions and forces on mooring lines and fenders. The project numerical component will include the improvement and the calibration of an existing numerical model, and the development of a new numerical model. Innovative experimental techniques will be used during the project.
Due to the referred complexity it is essential to study in detail a real facility with problems, making use of prototype results and numerical and laboratory simulations, allowing a possible application to similar cases. Therefore, the behavior of the berth A oil terminal of Port of Leixões will be studied with a physical model. In fact the actual behavior of this structure do not assure, in average, the operationally and security conditions during approximately 30% of the days. This fact causes obviously operational costs, as well as environmental and safety risks, to the port authority, thence the importance of this study. |