Vertical 2D Modeling of Free Surface Flow with Hydrodynamic Pressure Using SIMPLE Arithmetic in σ Coordinates

A numerical model for shallow water flow has been developed based on the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the hydrodynamic pressure instead of hydrostatic pressure assumption. The equations arc transformed into the a-coordinate system and the eddy viscosity is calculated with the standard k -ε turbulence model. The control volume method is used to discrete the equations, and the boundary conditions at the bed for shallow water models only include vertical diffusion terms expressed with wall functions. And the semi-implicit methed for pressure linked equation arithmetic is adopted to solve the equations. The model is applied to the 2D vertical plane flow of a current over two steep-sided trenches for which experiment data are available for comparison and good agreement is obtained. And the model is used to predicting the flow in a channel with a steep-sided submerged breakwater at the bottom, and the streamline is drawn.     

Long-Term Joint Distribution of One-Tenth Large (or Significant) Wave Height with Average Period

- In this paper, by using the wave data from a few oceanographic observation stations in the coastal zone of the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the long-term joint distribution of the one-tenth large (or significant) wave height with average period is studied. The statistical data demonstrate that the long- term distribution of the one- tenth wave height or average period fits the log-normal distribution, thus the joint distribution also fits the two-dimensional log-normal distribution. Then the conditional probability distribution of the average period is derived, and the range as well as the mode of the average wave period corresponding to a certain return period of wave height can be calculated easily.     

Beta Distribution of Surface Elevation of Random Waves

A probability density function (PDF) is derived of beta distribution with both λ3 (skewness) and λ4 (kurtosis) as parameters for weakly nonlinear wave surface elevation by use of a method recently proposed by Srokosz. This PDF not only has a simpler form than the well-known Gram-Charlier Series PDF derived by Longuet-Higgins. but also overcomes an obvious shortcoming of the latter that when the series is unsuitably truncated, the resulting PDF is locally negative. To test the derived beta PDF, laboratorial experiments of wind waves are conducted. The experimental data indicate that the theoretical requirements of the parameters in the beta PDF are fulfilled. The experimental results show that the present PDF is in better agreement with the measured data than the beta PDF only including parameter λ3, and also than the Gram-Charlier Series PDF truncated up to the term of H6.     

Buckling Propagation in Marine Pipelines

The buckling propagation in marine pipelines is studied by means of the cylindrical shell model in this paper. Several parameters including geometrical parameter D/ T, L/ D, physical parameter E and σy are discussed. The computed results are compared with the available experimental data and other computed results, it is found that the present results are closer to the experimental results than other computed results.     

A Study on Crack Detection with Modal Parameters of A Jacket Platform

Crack detection procedures by different modal parameters are analyzed for identitying a crack and its location and magnitude in a jacket plafform. The first ten natural frequencies and modal shapes of the jacket models are obtained by numerical experiments based on NASTRAN Code. A crack at different locations and of different magnitudes is imposed in the model at the underwater beams. Then, the modal evaluation parameters are calculated numerically, to illustrate the evaluation of modal parameter criteria used in jacket crack detection. The sensitivities of different modal parameters to different cracks are analyzed. A new technique is presented for predicting the approximate location of a breakage in the absence of the data of an intact model. This method can be used to detect a crack in underwater menbers by use of incomplete mode shapes of the top members of the jacket.     

Comparisons of Computational and Experimental Results of Solitary Wave Breaking

- In this paper, the solitary wave deformation along a gentle slope and the impact pressure, on the wall are investigated experimentally and the results are compared with numerical results obtained based on the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The topography used in the experiment consists of three segments. The left segment is a 1:4 slope, the middle segment 1 :SO slope and the right segment a horizontal bed. Both the wave heights and breaking points obtained from numerical simulation and experiments are in good agreement. Numerical results give reasonable pressure distributions of breaking waves on the wall.     

Damage Localization of Offshore Platforms Under Ambient Excitation

In this paper Nondestructive Damage Detection (NDD) for offshore platforms is investigated under operational conditions. As is known, there is no easy way to measure ambient excitation, so damage detection methods based on ambient excitation have become very vital for the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of offshore platforms. The modal parameters (natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes) are identified from structural response data with the Natural Excitation Technique (NExT) in conjunction with the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA) . A new method of damage detection is presented, which utilizes the invariance property of element modal strain energy. This method is to assign element modal strain energy to two parts, and defines two damage detection indicators. One is compression modal strain energy change ratio (CMSECR); the other is flexural modal strain energy change ratio (FMSECR). The present modal strain energy is obtained by incomplete modal shape and structural stiffness matr     

Reliability Index of Caisson Breakwaters for Load Variables Correlated

In order to suit the condition that the wave uplift is correlated with the horizontal wave load acting on a vertical breakwater, a generally used method for determining the reliability index β of the breakwater, i.e. the Hasofer-Lind method, is extended in a generalized stochastic space for correlative variables. The computational results for a caisson breakwater indicate that the value of β for the case of correlated variables is obviously smaller than that for the case of independent variables.     

Numerical Study on the Probability of Fatigue Failure of a Semi-Submerged Platform Structure

On the basis of Miner's linear cumulative damage theorem, random variables are introduced to evaluate objectively the fatigue damage of a semi-submerged platform structure and a method is presented to analyze the fatigue reliability of the structure in its design life. The reliability of the method is verified through numerical examples and some conclusions are drawn, which have certain guiding and reference value for design and inspection.     

Coupled BEM-FEM Analysis of the Large-Diameter Cylinder Structure System

A method of coupled BEM-FEM analysis for the elastic spatial structure system is presented. It can be applied to the calculation of the stress and deformation of the large-diamater cylinder structure system and it is suitable for symmetric or non-symmetric structures under the distributed or concentrated load. Numerical examples show that the proposed method and computer program BEFEM are quite efficient in the analysis of the large-diameter cylinder structure problems in ocean engineering.