Hydroelastic Analysis of Very Large Floating Structures Using Plate Green Functions

1 .IntroductionRecentlygreatinteresthasbeenshowninthedevelopmentofverylargefloatingstructuressuchasMegaFloatofJapan (Isobe ,1 999)andMOBofUSA (Remmers ,1 999) .Owingtotheirextremelargesizeandgreatflexibility ,thecouplingbetweenthestructuraldeformationandfluidmotionissignifi cant.Thisisatypicalproblemofhydroelasticity .Efficientandaccurateestimationofthehydroelasticresponseofverylargefloatingstructuresinwavesisveryimportantfordesign .Manymethodshavebeenproposedinliteratureforthepredictiono…     

The Working Mechanism and An Analytic Method of the Deep Embedded Large Cylinder Structure

The large cylinder is a new-type structure that has been applied to harbor and offshore engineering. An analytic method of the relationship between loads and the structure displacement is developed based on the failure mode of deep embedded large cylinder structures. It can be used to calculate directly the soil resistance and the ultirnate bearing capacity of the structure under usage. A new criterion of the large cylinder structure, which discriminates the deep embedded cylinder from the shallow embedded cylinder, is defined. Model tests prove that the proposed method is feasible for the analysis of deep embedded large cylinder structures.     

A Unified Variational Principle of Fluid Mechanics and Application on Solitary Subdomain or Point

-According to basic equations of fluid mechanics, this paper presents a unified variational principle of fluid mechanics (UVPFM) by using the optimization method of weighted residuals (OMWR). The advantages are as follows, the establishment of the functional and the variational principle is easy, it can change various problems of fluid mechanics derived by basic equations into a unified optimization problem, and the solution is the optimum one in some sense. According to the OMWR for the solitary subdomain, this paper uses UVPFM onto any solitary subdomain and gives the solution of the hydrodynamics equation which is suitable only for that solitary subdomain. According to the OMWR for solitary point, this paper uses UVPFM to any solitary point and gives the solution of the hydrodynamics equation (point solution) which is suitable only for that solitary point. As the solution for the solitary subdomain or solitary point is developed independently, the compatibility with other subdomain or other points, do     

Prediction of Load Carrying Capacity of Corroded Reinforced Concrete Beam

A novel method for prediction of the load carrying capacity of a corroded reinforced concrete beam (CRCB) is presented in the paper. Nine reinforced concrete beams, which had been working in an aggressive environment for more than 10 years, were tested in the laboratory. Comprehensive tests, including flexural test, strength test for corroded concrete and rusty rebar, and pullout test for bond strength between concrete and rebar, were condueted. The flexural test results of CRCBs reveal that the distribution of surface cracks on the beams shows a fractal behavior. The relationship between the fractal dimensions and mechanical properties of CRCBs is then studied. A prediction model based on artificial neural network (ANN) is established by the use of the fractal dimension as the corrosion index, together with the basic intbrmation of the beam. The validity of the prediction model is demonstrated through the experimental data, and satisfactory resuits are achieved.     

Numerical study of the influence of Kuroshio Current on the thermocline in the sea area around Taiwan Island

1 INTsoDUcrIONTemperature is one of the most impoFtant essential factors of ocean, and its verticalstructure, especially the phenomenon ofthermocline, is concerned by military and manufacturepractices at all times. There are two classes of research methods for thermocIine, statisticmethod and numerical method. In recent years, more attention has been paid to the latterwhich becomes the primary development direction. Since Munk et al (1948) pot forward1-D model of thermocline at steady sta…     

In-Situ Observation of Fluid Mud in the North Passage of Yangtze Estuary, China

Observations of fluid mud were made in the lower North Passage of the Yangtze Estuary in February 2000, on 10 -11 August 2000, on 30 - 31 August 2000 (after two strong typhoons), on 21 - 24 August 2000 (neap tide) and on 3 -6 September 2000 (mean tide) respectively. In situ data show that the fluid mud in this area consists of fine cohesive sediment (median size 7.23 μm). The formation and movement of fluid mud varied during the neap-spring and flood-ebb tidal cycle. Observations suggest that fluid mud phenomena in this area may be categorised in a three-fold manner as slack water, storm and saltwedge features. The thickness of the fluid mud layer of slack water during the neap tide ranged from 0.2 to 0.96 m, whereas during the mean tide, the thickness ranged from 0.17 to 0.73 m, and the thickness of the fluid mud layer was larger during slack water than at the flood peak. Shoals cover an area of 800 km^2 with a water depth smaller than 5 m. Erosion of these extensive intertidal mudflats due to storm action provides an abundant sediment source. This is particularly significant in this estuary when the tidal level is lower than 5 m. The lower North Passage is a typical zone of saltwater wedging, so the saltwedge fluid mud has the most extensive spatial range in the estuary.     

Analysis of Offshore Oil Pipeline Floating Laying

-Based on the calculation model for the floating laying of the offshore oil pipeline, this paper analyses in detail the internal force, and deformation of the pipeline under a definite structural form (pipeline and buoy) and the way of pulling. The obtained results can be used for the buoy deployment, structure design, and the determination of pulling parameters (the pulling force of the cable and its length, etc.), providing an effective analysis method for floating pipeline-laying. A calculation example is given to show the related calculation process and the main results are analyzed and discussed.     

The Effect of Internal Fluid on the Response of Vortex-Induced Vibration of Marine Risers

Based on Iwan‘s wake oseillator model developed with the classical van der Pol equalion, the differential equation for the response of the vortex-induced vihration (VIV) of the riser considering the effect of the internal flowing fluid and the external marine environmental condition is derived. The effect of the intermal flowing fluid on the response of VIV of the riser is studied by means of the Finite Element Method. The results show that the effect of the internal fluid velocity on the VIV of the riser is strong when the natural frequency of the riser is close to the vortex shedding frequency. In addition, the increase of the top tension can decrease the sensitivity of the riser to the internal fluid velocity.     

Design of Mooring System for Oil Storage Vessels

The floating oil storage system has been proposed as a new facility for Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in China. Mooring is one of the key technologies to ensure the safety, reliability, and performance of the oil storage system. This paper describes the concept, analysis, design and reliability of the mooring system. For mooring system design of these oil vessels, analysis is essential of the behavior of the vessel in connection with mooring facilities of nonlinear resilience. A nonlinear mathematical model for analyzing a moored vessel is established and solved. Some results of numerical simulations are presented. Assessment of the safety regarding the mooring system in terms of failure probability is carried out. Another simulation model for calculating the failure probability of the mooring system is proposed. The design parameters that have an influence on the characteristics of the failure probability have been identified. The simulation results show that the mooring system has an annual reliab     

Second-Order Wave Diffraction Around 3-D Bodies by A Time-Domain Method

A time-domain method is applied to simulate nonlinear wave diffraction around a surface piercing 3-D arbitrary body. The method involves the application of Taylor series expansions and the use of perturbation procedure to establish the corresponding boundary value problems with respect to a time-independent fluid domain. A boundary element method based on B-spline expansion is used to calculate the wave field at each time step, and the free surface boundary condition is satisfied to the second order of wave steepness by a numerical integration in time. An artificial damping layer is adopted on the free surface for the removal of wave reflection from the outer boundary. As an illustration, the method is used to compute the second-order wave forces and run-up on a surface-piercing circular cylinder. The present method is found to be accurate, computationally efficient, and numerically stable.