A quasi-cloaking phenomenon to reduce the wave drift force on an array of adjacent floating bodies

The mooring of offshore floating structures, such as offshore platforms, in large waves against drift forces and rotational moments is a challenging problem in offshore engineering. To accurately investigate such problems, called positioning problems, the time-averaged steady forces of the second order known as the wave drift forces must be taken into account. Fortunately, a cloaking phenomenon occurs under certain conditions and dramatically reduces the wave drift force acting on such a floating body, as previously reported by several researchers. In the diffraction problem of water waves, cloaking refers to the condition where there is no scattering in the form of radial outgoing waves. The reduction of wave drift force on a truncated cylinder with the occurrence of cloaking phenomenon has been numerically and experimentally confirmed. In this paper, the arrangement of several small circular cylinders at regular intervals in a circle concentric with a fixed floating body is considered as an effective means of reducing the wave drift force. Using a combination of a higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) and wave interaction theory, the influences of the geometric parameters of the outer surrounding cylinders on the wave drift force and the total scattered-wave energy are systematically investigated and discussed. A quasi-cloaking phenomenon is first found and reported in the present study, which is beneficial and flexible for application in practical engineering. More than one quasi-cloaking trigger (where a trigger is an occurrence condition) can be found simply by varying the distance between the inner and outer floating bodies.     

Interaction of cnoidal waves with an array of vertical concentric porous cylinders

An array of large concentric porous cylinder arrays is mounted in shallow water exposed to cnoidal waves. The interactions between waves and cylinders are studied theoretically using an eigenfunction expansion approach. Semi-analytical solutions of hydrodynamic loads and wave run-up on each cylinder are obtained using first approximation to cnoidal waves. The square array configuration of four-legged identical concentric porous cylinder is investigated in present study. Numerical results reveal the variation of dimensionless wave force and wave run-up on individual cylinder with angle of incidence, porosity parameter, spacing between outer and inner cylinders, spacing between concentric porous cylinders and wave parameter. Different mechanism of wave force is found under different range of scattering parameter.     

Interaction of ocean waves with floating and submerged horizontal flexible structures in three-dimensions

A three-dimensional general mathematical hydroelastic model dealing with the problem of wave interaction with a floating and a submerged flexible structure is developed based on small amplitude wave theory and linear structural response. The horizontal floating and submerged flexible structures are modelled with a thin plate theory. The linearized long wave equations based on shallow water approximations are derived and results are compared. Three-dimensional Green’s functions are derived using fundamental source potentials in water of finite and infinite depths. The expansion formulae associated with orthogonal mode-coupling relations are derived based on the application of Fourier transform in finite and infinite depths in case of finite width in three-dimensions. The usefulness of the expansion formula is demonstrated by analysing a physical problem of surface gravity wave interaction with a moored finite floating elastic plate in the presence of a finite submerged flexible membrane in three-dimensions. The numerical accuracy of the method is demonstrated by computing the complex values of reflected wave amplitudes for different modes of oscillation and mooring stiffness. Further, the effect of compressive force and modes of oscillations on a free oscillation hydroelastic waves in a closed channel of finite width and length for floating and submerged elastic plate system is analysed.     

Diffraction of Water Waves by A Vertically Floating Cylinder in A Two-Layer Fluid

In this paper, the diffraction of water waves by a vertically floating cylinder in a two-layer fluid of a finite depth is studied. Analytical expressions for the hydrodynamic loads on the vertically floating cylinder are obtained by use of the method of eigenfunction expansions. The hydrodynamic loads on the vertically floating cylinder in a two-layer fluid inelude not only the surge, heave and pitch exciting forces due to the incident wave of the surface-wave mode, but also those due to the incident wave of the internal-wave mode. This is different from the case of a homogenous fluid. Some given examples show that, for a two-layer fluid system with a small density difference, the hydrodynamic loads for the surface-wave mode do not differ significantly from those due to surface waves in a single-layer fluid, but the hydrodynamic loads for the internal-wave mode are important over a wide range of frequencies. Moreover, also considered are the free surface and interface elevations generated by the diffraction wave due to the incident wave of the surface-wave and interhal-wave modes, and transfer of energy between modes.     

Wave interaction with a concentric porous cylinder system

This is a theoretical investigation of wave interaction with a concentric surface-piercing two-cylinder system. The exterior cylinder is porous and considered to be thin in thickness and the interior cylinder is impermeable. Both cylinders are rigidly fixed at the sea bed. The fluid motion is idealized as a linearized potential flow. The free-surface elevation and the total net hydrodynamic forces acting on both cylinders are determined analytically. The wave-induced overturning moments are also evaluated. It is found that, with the existence of the exterior porous cylinder, the hydrodynamic force acting on the interior cylinder is reduced if compared to the force exerted on the interior cylinder by a direct wave impact. The reduction of the wave amplitude around the leeward side of the outer porous cylinder is shown from the free-surface computations. In this paper, results are also presented to illustrate the effects of wave parameter and structural porosity on this wave and cylinder interaction problem. The role played by the ratio of radii of the inner and outer cylinders is duscussed.     

Performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters

The overall performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters is investigated under the action of linear monochromatic incident waves in the frequency domain. The aforementioned floating breakwaters undergo only vertical structural deflections along their length and are held in place by means of vertical piles. The total number of degrees of freedom equals the six conventional body modes, when the breakwater moves as a rigid body, plus the extra bending modes. These bending modes are introduced to represent the structural deflections of the floating breakwater and are described by the Bernoulli–Euler flexible beam equation. The number of bending modes introduced is determined through an appropriate iterative procedure. The hydrostatic coefficients corresponding to the bending modes are also derived. The numerical analysis of the flexible floating breakwaters is based on a three-dimensional hydrodynamic formulation of the floating body. A parametric study is carried out for a wide range of structural stiffness parameters and wave headings, to investigate their effect on the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. Moreover, this performance is compared with that of the corresponding pile-restrained rigid floating breakwater. Results indicated that the degree of structural stiffness and the wave heading strongly affect the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. The existence of an “optimum” value of structural stiffness is demonstrated for the entire wave frequency range.     

Wave drift enhancement effects in multi column structures

A theoretical assessment is made of mean wave drift forces on groups of vertical circular cylinders, such as the columns of a floating offshore platform. A complete analytical solution is obtained for two cylinders extending from seabed to free surface, and a long wave approximation is found to provide reliable predictions of the drift force in line with the waves at low frequencies. For moderate separation between the two cylinders, this force is found to tend at low frequencies to a value four times the force on an isolated cylinder.A numerical method is employed to study two surface piercing cylinders truncated below the free surface, and an arrangement of four vertical cylinders characteristic of a floating offshore platform. The mean vertical drift force is found to be reasonably well approximated, over the frequency range of practical interest, by the force on an individual cylinder considered in isolation multiplied by the number of cylinders in the group. Interaction effects, however, have a profound influence on the total horizontal drift force. At low frequencies this force is found to tend to the force on an isolated cylinder multiplied by the squate of the number of cylinders in the group.     

Hydrodynamic performance of a dual cylindrical caisson breakwater

The hydrodynamic performance of a dual cylindrical caisson breakwater (DCBW) formed by a row of caissons each of which consisting of a porous outer cylinder circumscribing an impermeable inner cylinder has been theoretically investigated. The theoretical formulation is based on the eigenfunction expansion method proposed by Spring and Monkmeyer (1974) which was further modified by Linton and Evans [Linton, C.M., Evans, D.V., 1990. The interaction of waves with arrays of vertical circular cylinders. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 215, 549–569] for an array of impermeable cylinders. The present formulation is an extension of the work of Wang and Ren [Wang, K.H., Ren, X., 1994. Wave interaction with a concentric porous cylinder system. Ocean Engineering 21(4), 343–360], wherein; the interaction of linear waves with a single concentric porous cylinder system was studied. In the present study, the formulation has been extended to the case of a group of porous dual cylinder system. Parametric studies are carried out to study the influence of porosity (G₀) on the outer caisson, width of the doughnut chamber (a/b) and the angle of wave incidence on the variation in the hydrodynamic loading, wave run-up, free-surface elevation in its vicinity as well as the transmission on its lee-side. The importance of the presence of the inner cylinder in achieving the required hydrodynamic performance in terms of either protection or providing tranquility on its lee side keeping higher stability for the breakwater system is highlighted.     

Fully nonlinear simulations of wave resonance by an array of cylinders in vertical motions

The finite element method(FEM) is employed to analyze the resonant oscillations of the liquid confined within multiple or an array of floating bodies with fully nonlinear boundary conditions on the free surface and the body surface in two dimensions.The velocity potentials at each time step are obtained through the FEM with 8-node quadratic shape functions.The finite element linear system is solved by the conjugate gradient(CG) method with a symmetric successive overelaxlation(SSOR) preconditioner.The waves at the open boundary are absorbed by the combination of the damping zone method and the Sommerfeld-Orlanski equation.Numerical examples are given by an array of floating wedgeshaped cylinders and rectangular cylinders.Results are provided for heave motions including wave elevations,profiles and hydrodynamic forces.Comparisons are made in several cases with the results obtained from the second order solution in the time domain.It is found that the wave amplitude in the middle region of the array is larger than those in other places,and the hydrodynamic force on a cylinder increases with the cylinder closing to the middle of the array.     

水下平板与波浪相互作用完全非线性数值模拟(英文)

利用完全非线性数值波浪水槽技术研究水下平板与波浪的相互作用。假定水下平板厚度极薄、刚性,位于有限水深并且非常接近自由水面。应用四阶龙格库塔方法追踪每一时刻的波面形状,采用阻尼层来吸收反射波以保证算法的稳定性,同时引入平滑和重组的方法抑制自由表面控制点的较高梯度。通过对波浪与浮动圆柱相互作用的数值模拟证实了数值波浪水槽方法的有效性,计算结果与线性理论吻合良好。在波浪数值水槽方法中引入造波板模拟波浪产生并与水下平板发生相互作用,应用傅立叶解析方法对波面变形、波浪力作了分析。结果表明在板非常接近自由水面的情况下会表现出现很强的非线性,揭示了线性理论的局限性。     

Fully Nonlinear Simulations of Wave Resonance by An Array of Cylinders in Vertical Motions

The finite element method (FEM) is employed to analyze the resonant oscillations of the liquid confined within multiple or an array of floating bodies with fully nonlinear boundary conditions on the free surface and the body surface in two dimensions. The velocity potentials at each time step are obtained through the FEM with 8-node quadratic shape functions. The finite element linear system is solved by the conjugate gradient (CG) method with a symmetric successive overelaxlation (SSOR) preconditioner. The waves at the open boundary are absorbed by the combination of the damping zone method and the Sommerfeld-Orlanski equation. Numerical examples are given by an array of floating wedge- shaped cylinders and rectangular cylinders. Results are provided for heave motions including wave elevations, profiles and hydrodynamic forces. Comparisons are made in several cases with the results obtained from the second order solution in the time domain. It is found that the wave amplitude in the middle region of the array is larger than those in other places, and the hydrodynamic force on a cylinder increases with the cylinder closing to the middle of the array.     

Heave motion suppression of a Spar with a heave plate

Vortex shedding flow of an oscillating vertical cylinder with a disk attached at its keel is considered. This configuration is of interest for the offshore oil and gas industry. A finite difference method is employed to solve the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in the primitive-variables formulation. Test cases were used to guide selection of the size of flow domain, numerical parameters, and to verify that the resultant method was both convergent and accurate. Numerical simulations have shown that the geometry configurations of the cylinder and disk, such as aspect ratio of the disk t_d/D_d and diameter ratio, D_d/D_c have significant influence on the vortex shedding modes and associated hydrodynamic properties, e.g. hydrodynamic damping and added mass coefficients. These in turn affect the performance in heave motion control of the structures.     

双矩形浮子波能装置辐射问题的解析方法

在有限水深下1个漂浮在水中的矩形浮子和1个淹没在水下的浮子构成双矩形波能装置模型。基于特征函数展开法求解了线性入射波作用下双矩形浮子波能装置的辐射问题,得出了双矩形浮子辐射速度势的1种新解析式,然后根据Haskind关系由入射势和辐射势来计算波浪激励力,并且采用数值方法对相同算例进行了计算,得到了完全一致的结果,从而证明这种方法是正确的。研究了在不同工况下的波浪激励力和系统的水动力学系数变化的规律。     

Short-crested waves interaction with a concentric porous cylinder system with partially porous outer cylinder

In this paper, based on the linear wave theory, the interaction of short-crested waves with a concentric dual cylindrical system with a partially porous outer cylinder is studied by using the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM), which is a novel semi-analytical method with the advantages of combining the finite element method (FEM) with the boundary element method (BEM). The whole solution domain is divided into one unbounded sub-domain and one bounded sub-domain by the exterior cylinder. By weakening the governing differential equation in the circumferential direction, the SBFEM equations for both domains can be solved analytically in the radial direction. Only the boundary on the circumference of the exterior porous cylinder is discretized with curved surface finite elements. Meanwhile, by introducing a variable porous-effect parameter G, non-homogeneous materials caused by the complex configuration of the exterior cylinder are modeled without additional efforts. Comparisons clearly demonstrate the excellent accuracy and computational efficiency associated with the present SBFEM. The effects of the wide range wave parameters and the structure configuration are examined. This parametric study will help determine the various hydrodynamic effects of the concentric porous cylindrical structure.     

Hydrodynamic behavior of a straight floating pipe under wave conditions

This paper examines the hydrodynamic behavior of a floating straight pipe under wave conditions. The main problem in calculating the forces acting on a small-sized floating structure is obtaining the correct force coefficients C_n and C_t, which differ from a submerged structure. For a floating straight pipe of small size, we simplify it into a 2D problem, where the pipe is set symmetrically under wave conditions. The force equations were deduced under wave conditions and a specific method proposed to resolve the wave forces acting on a straight floating pipe. Results of the numerical method were compared to those from model tests and the effects of C_n and C_t on numerical results studied. Suggestions for the selection of correct C_n and C_t values in calculating wave forces on a straight floating pipe are given. The results are valuable for research into the hydrodynamic behavior of the gravity cage system.     

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.     

Steady drift force on vertical cylinder - viscous vs. potential

The contribution of the steady drift force on a floating structure may arise from waves, wind and current. The component of the wave drift force may be due to the second-order diffraction theory or potential effect and may be due to the velocity squared force or viscous effect. The presence of current in waves increases the effect of the viscous force. The expressions for these terms for a vertical cylinder are derived and their relative importance is investigated. Plots are presented showing the regions where the viscous or potential drift force predominates. Experiments were conducted with both small and large diameter cylinders. The mean drift forces obtained in these tests are compared with the theory.     

Interaction between waves and an array of floating porous circular cylinders

The present study theoretically as well as experimentally investigates the interaction between waves and an array of porous circular cylinders with or without an inner porous plate based on the linear wave theory.To design more effective floating breakwaters,the transmission rate of waves propagating through the array is evaluated.Each cylinder in the array is partly made of porous materials.Specifically,it possesses a porous sidewall and an impermeable bottom.In addition,an inner porous plate is horizontally fixed inside the cylinders.It dissipates the wave more effectively and eliminates the sloshing phenomenon.The approach suggested by Kagemoto and Yue(1986) is adopted to solve the multiple-scatter problem,while a hierarchical interaction theory is adopted to deal with hydrodynamic interactions among a great number of bodies,which efficiently saves computation time.Meanwhile,a series of model tests with an array of porous cylinders is performed in a wave basin to validate the theoretical work and the calculated results.The draft of the cylinders,the location of the inner porous plate,and the spacing between adjacent cylinders are also adjusted to investigate their effects on wave dissipation.     

Short-crested wave interaction with a concentric porous cylindrical structure

In this paper, theoretical study is carried out to investigate the general 3D short-crested wave interaction with a concentric two-cylinder system. The interior cylinder is impermeable and the exterior cylinder is thin in thickness and porous to protect the interior cylinder. Both cylinders are surface-piercing and bottom mounted. Analytical solution is derived based on the linear potential theory. The effects of the wide range wave parameters and structure configuration including porosity of the exterior cylinder and the annular spacing on the wave forces, surface elevations and the diffracted wave contours are examined.     

Effect of mooring-line stiffness on the performance of a dual coaxial-cylinder Wave-Energy Converter

A point-absorber-type Wave-Energy Converter (WEC) consisting of a floating vertical inner cylinder and an annular outer cylinder that slides along the inner one is considered. The two cylinders heave differently under wave excitation, and wave energy can be harnessed from the relative heave motion between the two cylinders using a Permanent Magnet Linear Generator (PMLG) as the Power Take-Off unit. A mooring cable is attached to the bottom of the inner cylinder. This paper aims to examine the effect of the stiffness of the mooring cable on the performance of the coaxial-cylinder WEC system. The two limiting cases of no mooring cable (freely floating inner and outer cylinders) and an infinitely stiff mooring cable (fixed inner cylinder) were also considered. To perform the analysis, hydrodynamic and interference coefficients of the two heaving cylinders were computed semi-analytically using the method of matched eigenfunction expansions. Experimentally determined viscous corrections on damping were also included in the model in order to have more realistic predictions. The performance of the system in terms of motion responses and capture width were predicted and discussed for both regular and irregular waves. The results of the analysis indicate that both the freely floating design and the design with rigidly moored inner cylinder are viable. The two limiting cases show similar optimal performances, albeit with very different optimal generator damping. However, an ill-chosen mooring-cable stiffness may cause the inner and the outer cylinders to have the same resonance frequency, eliminating the relative heave motion and leading to almost no energy extraction. This situation needs to be avoided when designing the mooring system for a coaxial-cylinder WEC.