Abstract
The importance of the impact force on the vertical offshore circular structure member in the surf zone due to the breaking wave has been recognized recently. In this paper characteristics of breaking wave forces and the corresponding estimation procedures for them are investigated. For the characterization of the wave forces, three parts, drag force, inertia force, impact force are categorized and identified, respectively. Among them the impact force is maimly studied and the concise form of the force is proposed with the application scheme for the design of offshore circular structure member. The resulting form porposed here for impact force is well coincided with former research results by other people. Except the impact force, so called Morison equation can be employed for the common offshore structure design. The drag force and inertia force are represented as convertionally for the profile except the breaking part. In the numerical example, for thpical sea condition and the member size, the proposed procedures for the breaking wave forces calculation are demonstrated. It is found that the impact force is the most deminant one comparing with inertia and drag forces in the surf zone.