Wind-Tunnel Investigation of Wind Loads on a Post-Panamax Container Ship as a Function of the Container Configuration on Deck

An investigation of the wind forces acting on a 9,000+ TEU container ship has been carried out through a series of wind tunnel tests. It was investigated how the wind forces depend on the container configuration on the deck using a 1:450 scale model and a series of appropriate container configurations.

The wind tunnel tests were carried out in the naturally existing boundary layer of the wind tunnel. The longitudinal and transverse forces and the yaw moment were measured and the measurements were corrected for the effects of the boundary layer and blockage in the wind tunnel. The results are presented as nondimensional coefficients.

It is concluded, that the measured forces and moment depend on the container configuration on deck, and the results may provide a general idea of how the magnitude of the wind forces is affected by a given container stacking configuration on a similar container ship.