Mooring Loads Due to Parallel Passing Ships

Laboratory tests were conducted to measure the loads on a moored ship resulting from a passing ship moving parallel to the moored vessel. The tests included changes in the passing vessel speed, vessel displacement, water depth, and separation distance between the two ships. Measurements were made of the surge forces, sway forces, and yaw moments. Two existing predictive models were evaluated in "blind" tests to determine their ability to predict the measured mooring loads. A new set of empirical equations are then proposed that provide improved descriptions of the measured peak mooring loads.