The Usefulness of Fairings for Moored Subsurface Current Measurements in High Currents

F. Schott University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33149

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P. Bedard University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33149

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K. Haldenbilen University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33149

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T. Lee University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33149

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Abstract

Moored current meter stations were deployed in the Florida Current with and without fairings on the mooring wire. Fairings used were the rigid plastic snap-on type. An analysis of mooring motion showed that for the faired wire, drag reduction was considerable, reducing the drag coefficient to about 0.4 instead of 1.5–2.0 for the unfaired wire. The average tilt of a mooring near the axis of the stream was 14° with fairings compared to 25° for unfaired wire.

Abstract

Moored current meter stations were deployed in the Florida Current with and without fairings on the mooring wire. Fairings used were the rigid plastic snap-on type. An analysis of mooring motion showed that for the faired wire, drag reduction was considerable, reducing the drag coefficient to about 0.4 instead of 1.5–2.0 for the unfaired wire. The average tilt of a mooring near the axis of the stream was 14° with fairings compared to 25° for unfaired wire.

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