Hydroelastic analysis of the floating plate optimized for maximum radiation damping

In previous work, the problem of optimizing the shape of a thin floating plate to maximize radiation damping was investigated. The plate was modelled with zero draft and floated on the surface of an irrotational, incompressible ocean of infinite extent. For simplicity, only rigid heave motions were considered and the damping coefficient at one wave number was maximized. In the present work, the hydroelastic properties of the optimized plate are determined and compared with those of circular and square plates. The added mass, damping, and diffraction force coefficients in each mode are determined as a function of wave number. The amplitude responses of the plate deflection and bending moments are also presented. The finite element method is used to determine the vibration mode shapes and the flow problem is analysed using the Chen and Mei variational principle wherein the potential field inside a hemisphere surrounding the plate is represented using a spherical harmonic expansion and matched on the hemisphere to an outer field described by distributing sources on the hemisphere.     

Hydrodynamic shape optimization of thin floating plates

In this work, the problem of optimizing the shape of a thin floating plate (sometimes called a dock) to maximize radiation damping is investigated. The plate is modeled with zero draft and floats on the surface of an irrotational, incompressible ocean of infinite extent. For simplicity, only rigid heave motions are considered. The flow problem is analyzed using the Chen and Mei variational principle wherein the potential field inside a hemisphere surrounding the plate is represented using a spherical harmonic expansion and matched on the hemisphere to an outer field described by distributing sources on the hemisphere. The plate shape is parameterized using a Fourier series which is suitable for use with the variational principle. Gradients of the damping coefficient with respect to the shape parameters are developed by solving an adjoint flow problem whose potential is shown to be a scalar multiple of the original flow potential. Optimal plate shapes are determined using the well-known optimization code NPSOL which makes use of the damping coefficient calculation and gradients.     

Hydroelastic analysis of pontoon-type circular VLFS with an attached submerged plate

This paper is concerned with the hydroelastic analysis of a pontoon-type, circular, very large floating structure (VLFS) with a horizontal submerged annular plate attached around its perimeter. The coupled fluid–structure interaction problem may be solved by using the modal expansion method in the frequency domain. It involves, firstly, the decomposition of the deflection of a circular Mindlin plate with free edges into vibration modes that are obtained analytically. Then the hydrodynamic diffraction and radiation forces are evaluated by using the eigenfunction expansion matching method which can also be done in an exact manner. The hydroelastic equation of motion is solved by the Rayleigh–Ritz method for the modal amplitudes, and then the modal responses are summed up to obtain the total response. The effectiveness of the attached submerged annular plate in reducing the motion of VLFS has been confirmed by the analysis.     

Minimization of drift force on a floating cylinder by optimizing the flexural rigidity of a concentric annular plate

The deployment of suitable configurations of mutually interacting floating bodies for efficiently controlling their hydrodynamic interactions towards the reduction of the wave drift forces and, thus, of the mooring lines’ loads, has, nowadays, gained a great scientific interest. In this paper, the hydrodynamic behaviour of a floating cylinder and a concentric annular flexible plate is analysed in the frequency domain aiming at the minimization of the drift forces acting on the cylinder by optimizing the flexural rigidity of the plate. The diffraction/radiation problem is solved using a higher-order boundary element method. The analysis is implemented assuming that both floating bodies oscillate freely in heave, while for the plate, flexible modes are, additionally, considered for describing its structural deformations. The required modes shapes are determined in vacuum (“dry” mode superposition approach) through analytical expressions. The flexural rigidity of the plate, D, is optimized at a specific wave number using a real-coded genetic algorithm. Initially, results are compared with numerical results of other investigators for the case of two rigid concentric floating cylinders. Next, extended results are presented, focusing on the effect of D, including its optimum value, on various physical quantities describing the behaviour of both the cylinder and the plate. Contrary to the isolated cylinder, the presence of the plate introduces sharp peaks in the variation pattern of the drift force of the cylinder, bounded at specific wave numbers, where resonance of the seiche mode of water motion in the annular cavity or of specific flexible modes of the plate occurs. However, by reducing D to its optimum value, the cylinder’s drift force obtains practically zero values at the target wave number, due to an efficient improvement of the wave field in the annular cavity around the cylinder. Moreover, a great reduction of the drift force compared to the isolated cylinder is achieved in the subsequent high frequency range.     

有航速浮体时域分析的混合边界元法

给出了一种联合瞬态格林函数和Rankine源进行有航速浮体时域水动力分析的混合——边界元方法。在三维混合边界元方法中,通过一个匹配面将流体域划分为内域和外域,在内域中使用Rankine源以模拟直壁或非直壁船体及线性或非线性自由面条件,在外域中使用瞬态格林函数以满足自由面条件和远方辐射条件。使用该方法计算了一个有航速潜没圆球的波浪力,和解析结果的比较证明了该方法的正确性。进一步给出了一个有航速Wigley船的水动力结果,计算结果稳定,没有外传波向内反射的现象发生。     

Time-domain floating body dynamics by rational approximation of the radiation impedance and diffraction mapping

The problem of approximating the dynamics of a floating structure in a transient wave environment with a set of constant-coefficient differential equations is explored. It is assumed that the solutions of the corresponding steady-state time-harmonic radiation and diffraction problems are available. It is proposed to fit the frequency responses associated with the ‘radiation impedance' and wave-exciting forces with appropriate analytic functions. In the case of the radiation problem, these possess certain properties corresponding to the passivity of the radiation mapping. By choosing rational approximations, the transformation from the frequency to the time domain is facilitated. The method is illustrated for both two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems using a floating cylinder, sphere, and a model of Salter's Duck which exhibits hydrodynamic coupling between sway, heave, and pitch motions.     

波浪作用下方箱-水平板浮式防波堤时域水动力分析

在线性化势流理论范围内求解方箱-水平板浮式防波堤的波浪绕射和辐射问题,从时域角度分析了浮式防波堤的水动力特性.采用格林函数法将速度势定解问题的控制微分方程变换成边界上的积分方程进行数值求解,浮式防波堤的运动方程采用四阶Runge-Kutta方法求解.对不同层数水平板的浮式防波堤的波浪透射系数、运动响应和锚链受力进行了计算分析,结果表明方箱相对宽度对方箱-水平板浮式防波堤的波浪透射作用有重要的影响,透射系数随着方箱相对宽度的增加而减小.对于方箱加二层水平板的浮式防波堤,在本研究的计算条件下,当方箱相对宽度从0.110增加至0.295时,透射系数从0.88减小至0.30.水平板有利于增加浮式防波堤对波浪的衰减作用,但随着水平板层数从0增加至2,这种波浪衰减作用增加的程度趋弱.方箱-水平板的浮式防波堤的运动量小于单一方箱防波堤的运动量.与此对应,方箱-水平板防波堤的锚链受力小于单一方箱防波堤的锚链受力.     

Wave loading on axisymmetric bodies using axisymmetric hybrid integral equation method

The wave diffraction problem on axisymmetric structures are solved by treating the fluid field as two separate domains. The velocity potential in the inner domain is represented by a 1/r type Green's function whilst that of the outer domain is represented by an eigenfunction expansion. The simple form of the Green's function in the inner domain reduces significantly the computational effort whilst the eigenfunction expansion in the outer domain is able to satisfy the radiation boundary condition completely. The method requires to have elements cover the entire containing boundary. Results for a number of typical structural geometries are presented and discussions are made on the effect of various parameters.     

Hydrodynamic analysis of three–unit arrays of floating annular oscillating–water–column wave energy converters

This paper deals with the hydrodynamic analysis of an array of Oscillating Water Column (OWC) devices, made up of coaxial cylinders, which are floating either independently or as a unit forming a floating platform. The platform is considered either free – floating or as TLP configuration connected to the sea bottom. Numerical results concerning the three boundary value problems, namely, the diffraction, the motion – and the pressure – dependent radiation ones are given. They have been obtained through an analytical solution method using matched axisymmetric eigenfunction expansion formulations. In all cases the interaction phenomena with neighbouring bodies have been taken properly into account using the physical idea of multiple scattering. Numerical results for the first – and the mean second – order wave forces, the hydrodynamic interaction coefficients along with pressure hydrodynamic parameters, inner air pressure and free–surface oscillation amplitude inside and outside of each device are parametrically evaluated and supplemented by experimental data.     

Direct time domain analysis of floating structures with linear and nonlinear mooring stiffness in a 3D numerical wave tank

In this paper, motion response of a moored floating structure interacting with a large amplitude and steep incident wave field is studied using a coupled time domain solution scheme. Solution of the hydrodynamic boundary value problem is achieved using a three-dimensional numerical wave tank (3D NWT) approach based upon a form of Mixed-Eulerian–Lagrangian (MEL) scheme. In the developed method, nonlinearity arising due to incident wave as well as nonlinear hydrostatics is completely captured while the hydrodynamic interactions of radiation and diffraction are determined at every time step based on certain simplifying approximations. Mooring lines are modelled as linear as well as nonlinear springs. The horizontal tension for each individual mooring line is obtained from the nonlinear load-excursion plot of the lines computed using catenary theory, from which the linear and nonlinear line stiffness are determined. Motions of three realistic floating structures with different mooring systems are analyzed considering various combinations of linear and approximate nonlinear hydrodynamic load computations and linear/nonlinear mooring line stiffness. Results are discussed to bring out the influence and need for consideration of nonlinearities in the hydrodynamics and hydrostatics as well as the nonlinear modelling of the line stiffness.     

The Transient Solution of Plane Progressive Waves

- Generated by an ideal sinusoidal motion of the vertical plate, the simplest linear solution in time domain for two-dimensional regular waves is derived. The solution describes the propagation process of the plane progressive wave with a front, and will approach the linear steady- state solution as the oscillation time of the plate approaches infinity. The solution presented in this paper can be used to provide an incident wave model with analytical expression for solving the problems of diffraction and response of floating bodies in time domain.     

Natural frequencies of vertical cylindrical oscillating water column devices

This paper deals with the evaluation of the natural frequencies in heave motion of a single floating Oscillating Water Column device along with the natural frequencies of the water column inside the oscillating chamber. Two types of OWCs are examined, a simple-type device, consisting of a partially immersed toroidal body and a novel-type device, consisting also of a partially immersed toroidal body supplemented however by a coaxial interior truncated cylinder moving in phase with the outer chamber, thus forming a floating unit. Numerical results are given concerning the three boundary value problems, namely, the diffraction, the motion- and the pressure- dependent radiation problems, obtained through an analytical solution method using matched axisymmetric eigenfunction expansion formulations. The effect of the air pressure distribution inside the oscillating chamber on the natural frequencies in heave motion of the two examined types of OWCs and on the natural frequency of the water column motion inside the chamber, is presented and discussed thoroughly. It is demonstrated that the heave natural frequencies are strongly dependent on the type of the examined OWC and the device’s inner air pressure and should be taken into consideration when designing a floating OWC device.     

浮基多体系统自激运动响应的时域分析方法

浮基多体系统上部机构作业时不仅存在多体系统内部各物体间的耦合作用 ,还存在浮基与流场间的耦合作用。本文将浮基在流场中引起的辐射势表示为浮基加速度与时域规范化速度势乘积的卷积形式 ,导出流体动压力及静水系泊恢复力与浮基运动的关系。使用多刚体力学的凯恩方法得到系统的动力学方程。最后给出了在时域中数值求解系统运动响应的具体步骤     

Wave Radiation by A Submerged Ring Plate in Water of Finite Depth

A plate submerged at a certain depth underneath the sea surface has been proposed as a structure type for different purposes, including motion response reduction, wave control, and wave energy harvesting. In the present study, the three-dimensional wave radiation problem is investigated in the context of the linear potential theory for a submerged ring plate in isolation or attached to a floating column as an appendage. In the latter case, the ring plate is attached at a certain distance above the column bottom. The structure is assumed to undergo a heave motion. An analytical model is developed to solve the wave radiation problem via the eigenfunction expansion method in association with the region-matching technique. With the velocity potential being available, the hydrodynamic coefficients, such as added mass and radiation damping, are obtained through the direct pressure integration. An alternative solution of radiation damping has also been developed in this study, in which the radiation damping is related to the Kochin function in the wave radiation problem. After validating the present model, numerical analysis is performed in detail to assess the influence of various plate parameters, such as the plate size and submergence depth. It is noted that the additional added mass due to the attached ring plate is larger than that when the plate is in isolation. Meanwhile, the radiation damping of the column for the heave motion can vanish at a specific wave frequency by attaching a ring plate, corresponding to a condition that there exist no progressive waves in the exterior region.     

The effects of LNG-tank sloshing on the global motions of LNG carriers

The coupling and interactions between ship motion and inner-tank sloshing are investigated by a time-domain simulation scheme. For the time-domain simulation, the hydrodynamic coefficients and wave forces are obtained by a potential-thoery-based three-dimensional (3D) diffraction/radiation panel program in frequency domain. Then, the corresponding simulations of motions in time domain are carried out using convolution integral. The liquid sloshing in a tank is simulated in time domain by a Navier–Stokes solver. A finite difference method with SURF scheme is applied for the direct simulation of liquid sloshing. The computed sloshing force and moment are then applied as external excitations to the ship motion. The calculated ship motion is in turn inputted as the excitation for liquid sloshing, which is repeated for the ensuing time steps. For comparison, we independently developed a coupling scheme in the frequency domain using a sloshing code based on the linear potential theory. The hydrodynamic coefficients of the inner tanks are also obtained by a 3D panel program. The developed schemes are applied to a barge-type FPSO hull equipped with two partially filled tanks. The time-domain simulation results show similar trend when compared with MARIN's experimental results. The most pronounced coupling effects are the shift or split of peak-motion frequencies. It is also found that the pattern of coupling effects between vessel motion and liquid sloshing appreciably changes with filling level. The independent frequency-domain coupled analysis also shows the observed phenomena.     

An efficient hybrid integral-equation method for point-absorber wave energy converters with a vertical axis of symmetry

To assist in the prototyping and controller design of point-absorber wave energy converters (WECs), an easy-to-implement hybrid integral-equation method is presented for computing the frequency-domain hydrodynamic properties of bodies with a vertical axis of symmetry in waves. The current hybrid method decomposes the flow domain into two parts: an inner domain containing the body and an outer domain extending to infinity. The solution in the inner domain is computed using the boundary-element method, and the outer-domain solution is expressed using eigenfunctions. Proper matching at the domain boundary is achieved by enforcing continuity of velocity potential and its normal derivative. Body symmetry allows efficient computation using ring sources in the inner domain. The current method is successfully applied to three different body geometries including a vertical truncated floating cylinder, the McIver toroid, and the coaxial-cylinder WEC being developed in the authors’ laboratory. In particular, the current results indicate that, by replacing the flat bottom of the coaxial-cylinder WEC with the Berkeley-Wedge (BW) shape, viscous effect can be significantly reduced with only minor negative impact on wave-exciting force, thus increasing WEC efficiency. Finally, by comparing to experimental measurements, the current method is demonstrated to accurately predict the heave added mass and wave-exciting force on the coaxial-cylinder WEC with BW geometry. If a viscous damping correction factor is used, the heave motion amplitude can also be accurately computed.     

Time-domain simulation of wave–structure interaction based on multi-transmitting formula coupled with damping zone method for radiation boundary condition

Based on the Rankine source, this paper proposed a time-domain method for analyzing the three-dimensional wave–structure interaction problem in irregular wave. A stable integral form of the free-surface boundary condition (IFBC) is employed to update the velocity potential on the free surface. A multi-transmitting formula, with an artificial wave speed, is used to eliminate the wave reflection for radiation condition on the artificial boundary. An effective multi-transmitting formula, coupled with damping zone method, is further used to analyze the irregular wave diffraction at the artificial boundary. We investigate hydrodynamic forces on floating structure and compare our solution to the frequency-domain solution. It is shown that long time simulation can be done with high stability and the numerical results agree well with the solution obtained under the frequency domain. The efficiency of the proposed multi-transmitting formula and the coupled methods for radiation boundary make them promising candidates in studying the irregular water wave problem in time domain.     

Wave radiation and diffraction by a two-dimensional floating body with an opening near a side wall

The radiation and diffraction problem of a two-dimensional rectangular body with an opening floating on a semi-infinite fluid domain of finite water depth is analysed based on the linearized velocity potential theory through an analytical solution procedure. The expressions for potentials are obtained by the method of variation separation, in which the unknown coefficients are determined by the boundary condition and matching requirement on the interface. The effects of the position of the hole and the gap between the body and side wall on hydrodynamic characteristics are investigated. Some resonance is observed like piston motion in a moon pool and sloshing in a closed tank because of the existence of restricted fluid domains.     

Hydroelastic response of a circular plate in waves on a two-layer fluid of finite depth

The hydroelastic response of a circular, very large floating structure （VLFS）, idealized as a floating circular elastic thin plate, is investigated for the case of time-harmonic incident waves of the surface and interfacial wave modes, of a given wave frequency, on a two-layer fluid of finite and constant depth. In linear potential-flow theory, with the aid of angular eigenfunction expansions, the diffraction potentials can be expressed by the Bessel functions. A system of simultaneous equations is derived by matching the velocity and the pressure between the open-water and the plate-covered regions, while incorporating the edge conditions of the plate. Then the complex nested series are simplified by utilizing the orthogonality of the vertical eigenfunctions in the open-water region. Numerical computations are presentedto investigate the effects of different physical quantities, such as the thickness of the plate, Young＇s modulus, the ratios ofthe densities and of the layer depths, on the dispersion relations of the flexural-gravity waves for the two-layer fluid.Rapid convergence of the method is observed, but is slower at higher wave frequency. At high frequency, it is found that there is some energy transferred from the interfacial mode to the surface mode.     

Influence of Gaps Between Multiple Floating Bodies on Wave Forces

The present study aims to give general hints about hydrodynamic interactions for water wavediffraction on a super large floating structure composed of a large number of box-shaped modules withmany small gaps in between.And meanwhile,it also aims to seek for an effective way to take the gap influ-ence into consideration without numerical difficulties existing in conventional methods.An asymptotic ma-tching technique is exploited by virtue of the smallness of gaps.Formal potential solutions are establishedfor the near field around the gap ends and the far field away from gap ends,respectively,and theunknowns in those solutions are uniquely determined by asymptotic matching.The eigen-function expan-sion method is used for the outer far field and a series of pulsating sources at each gap end is introduced tosimulate the gap influence.Strong hydrodynamic interaction is observed and a new resonant phenomenon,the mechanism of which differs absolutely from any known ones,is revealed in the present study.Sharppea