The results of a large set of experimental tests on single vertical cylinders in regular waves are presented. The aim of the research project was to investigate the local behaviour of the pressure at the wall and the wave pattern around the cylinder in the cases of inertia dominated and diffraction dominated wave loads, with a specific interest in the nonlinear features of the phenomena. To this end, the tests have been accurately designed and the used instrumentation allowed to obtain highly reliable results. The parameter ka has been varied between 0.2 and 1.4, the wave steepness H/ ranging between 1/15 and 1/50.
