On deep water applications the mooring lines can be held in place by VLA (Vertical Load Anchoring) systems. This is to avoid a too large anchoring radius. An alternative that has been used is the so-called torpedo anchor. The name torpedo comes from its installation, and is, in fact, a pile with side fins that improve the anchoring properties by soil friction. However, these fins are far ahead from the pile mid-section which leads to an unstable situation during launching through the water, when the pile is released 100 m from the sea bottom. The kinetic energy at the touch point on the bottom ensures the pile penetration into the sea floor. In order to access the directional stability and other factors of torpedo-anchors launching, a 1:15 scaled model was constructed and launched in several conditions on a 15 m water depth basin (LabOceano). The present paper discusses the model tests instrumentation, data acquisition and analysis of the results.

Keywords:
angular velocity, torpedo, initial angle, coppe, configuration, unstable configuration, janeiro, upper frame, international conference, laboceano
Subjects:
Information Management and Systems
This content is only available via PDF.
Copyright 2010, The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.