Marine fouling is a major concern in marine aquaculture industry. It changes the flow field around the cage, reduces water exchange across the nets and affects the current/wave-induced forces acting on the structure. The current/wave forces induced to marine-fouled planar net panels were studied by previous researchers. The current paper reports the results of a series of small-scale physical model tests conducted to study the wave forces induced to marine-fouled 3D aquaculture net cages. Using load cells fixed on the mooring lines, the time series of the forces generated by irregular waves propagating through the clean and fouled fish cage models were recorded. The artificial fouling was representative of hydroids, an important fouling organism in the aquaculture industry. Time and frequency domain analysis were performed on the in-line (surge) and cross-line (sway) wave force data.

The experimental results showed that the surge force amplitudes increased up to around 160% and by the fouling. The sway force showed up to around 50% decrease by the fouling. The probability distribution of the force response to irregular waves was not significantly affected by the fouling. The force transfer functions from the time and frequency analysis were in reasonable agreements. The fouling, interestingly, increased the linearity of the wave-force interactions and provided stronger associations between the input forcing and the output response.

海洋污垢是海水养殖业的主要问题。它改变了笼子周围的流场，减少了跨网的水交换，并影响了作用在结构上的水流/波浪感应力。以前的研究人员研究了海洋污染的平面网板引起的电流/波浪力。目前的论文报告了一系列小规模物理模型试验的结果，这些试验旨在研究海洋污染 3D 水产养殖网箱引起的波浪力。使用固定在系泊绳上的称重传感器，记录了不规则波浪在干净和脏污的鱼笼模型中传播所产生的力的时间序列。人工污垢是水产养殖业中重要的污垢生物Hydroids的代表。

实验结果表明，浪涌力的振幅增加了 160% 左右，并受到污垢的影响。由于污垢，摇摆力降低了约 50%。对不规则波浪的力响应的概率分布不受污垢的显着影响。来自时间和频率分析的力传递函数具有合理的一致性。有趣的是，污垢增加了波浪力相互作用的线性度，并在输入强迫和输出响应之间提供了更强的关联。