Recent progress on wave induced loading measurements in warships

Recent measurements of wave induced hull strain and flexure in RN warships are presented together with the derivation of the current design criteria for extreme hull girder bending loads. The history of the development of the shipboard instrumentation used is given and recent developments to improve the quality and ease of analysis of the data are described. An unexpectedly high transverse asymmetry in the longitudinal strains measured in destroyers is shown to be the result of a combination of vertical and lateral bending in oblique seas. Finally recent theoretical comparisons between the loading of Deep-Vee hulls and conventional UK rounded bilge hulls are presented which demonstrate the higher loading experienced by this type of hull form.