Research Pays Off: Partnering to Fill the Research Needs of an Underrepresented Highway System: Alaska and Washington State Advance Design of Ferry Berthing Structures
To address a gap in knowledge Washington State Ferries (WSF) and Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) initiated a research project to characterize the load environment of ferry landings, studying the vessel forces on the landing structures. The objective was to collect the information needed for reliable yet economical structural designs.
Researchers measured the vessel approach velocity, the displacements, and the internal forces as vessels came to a stop against a landing structure. A statistical analysis of the data from many berthing events identified the approach velocities, forces, and impact energies was used to develop reliable design criteria.
The results of this research project represent a significant advance for the design of ferry terminal structures and marine berthing structures. The monitoring system that was developed to measure the parameters associated with ferry berthing is applicable to other classes of vessels and to other berthing structures.
The project gathered the necessary data—such as impact force, approach velocity, and impact energy—for deriving statistically based engineering design criteria for the berthing demands of ferry vessels. Information derived from in situ measurements is a considerable improvement over the assumptions that support the current standard of practice.
This Summary Last Modified On: 3/30/2014