Grounding experiments on soft bottoms

To verify a theoretical analysis procedure for calculation of the hull girder response of ships running aground, a series of large-scale ship grounding experiments was performed on an artificial island made of engineered fill. The tests were conducted by running a condemned fishing vessel up on selected beaches of the island with velocities ranging between 2m/s and 5.5m/s. During the tests, surge, heave, and pitch accelerations were measured and also the deformations of the beach and the ship bow. Based on these accelerations, rigid body velocities and motions were determined. The forces arising from the interaction between the bow of the vessel and the seabed were determined by solving the equations of motions. This article describes the analysis of the measured results and a comparison of the results from the full-scale measurements with results from a recently developed analysis procedure for grounding on soft bottoms.