It is known that when a ship passes a berthed ship it causes hydrodynamic interactions which can result in the berthed ship ranging on its moorings. To date, most investigations into this problem have assumed that the berthed ship is in relatively open water, with only a few cases reported where the presence of the wharf, bank or other blockage is considered.

This paper gives a selection of results from physical scale model experiments of berthed and passing ship interaction for different berthed ship bow and stern blockage arrangements. The time domain results are compared to assess the change in form and magnitude of the interaction forces and moment due to the additional blockage. The time domain results are also compared to published idealised curves scaled using empirical formulae which were developed for open water conditions to determine whether the idealised empirical time domain results can accurately represent the interaction forces and moment for the cases presented.

The experimental and idealised empirical time domain results were used as input to a numerical simulation software package to predict the motions experienced by the berthed ship due to a passing ship for a selected mooring arrangement.

The results demonstrate that bow and stern blockage around a berthed ship can significantly influence both the form and magnitude of the interaction forces and moments and hence can significantly modify the predicted motion and mooring loads of the berthed ship, which is not accounted for in the idealised empirical prediction in the time domain.