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…     

Numerical Simulation of Non-Linear Wave Propagation in Waters of Mildly Varying Topography with Complicated Boundary

In this paper, the characteristics of different forms of mild slope equations for non-linear wave are analyzed, and new non-linear theoretic models for wave propagation are presented, with non-linear terms added to the mild slope equations for non-stationary linear waves and dissipative effects considered. Numerical simulation models are developed of non-linear wave propagation for waters of mildly varying topography with complicated boundary, and the effects are studied of different non-linear corrections on calculation results of extended mild slope equations. Systematical numerical simulation tests show that the present models can effectively reflect non-linear effects.     

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.     

Fuzzy Optimum Model of Semi-Structural Decision for Lectotype Optimization of Offshore Platforms

In the process of concept design of offshore platforms, it is necessary to select the best from feasible alternatives through comparison and filter. The criterion set, used to evaluate and select the satisfying alternative, consists of many qualitative and quantitative factors. Therefore, the selection is a problem of multicriteria and semi- structural decision- making. Different from traditional methods in semi- structural decision- making, a new framework and methodology is presented in this paper for evaluation of offshore platform alternatives. First, the criterion set is established for the evaluation of alternatives. Next, the approach is studied to construct the relative membership degree matrix, in which both qualitative and quantitative factors are consistent with the uniform calculating standard. And then a new weight-assessing method is developed for calculation of the weights based on the relative membership degree matrix. Finally, a multi-hierarchy fuzzy optimum model is adopted to select t     

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…     

Modeling of Multi-Freedom Ship Motions in Irregular Waves with Fuzzy Neural Networks

1 .IntroductionAshiptravelingatseaundergoesundesirablewave inducedmotions ,namely ,surge ,sway ,heav ing ,rolling ,pitchingandyaw .Thesemotionsoftencauseproblemstothecrew ,theonboardequip mentand ,intheworstcase ,thesafetyofthevessel.Tominimizethewave inducedshipmotions ,controlsystemsmaybeapplied .Theaccuratemodelingofshipmotionsisthereforeveryimportantforshipdesignanddesignofmotioncontrolsystems .Manyresearchershavedevelopedshipmotionpredictionmethodsbasedonthepotentialflowtheo ries (Dong ,…     

Modal Wave Number Tomography for South China Sea Front

1 .IntroductionTheSouthChinaSealiestothesoutheastpartoftheChinesecontinent.TheKuroshioflowsbytheeastsideoftheLuzonStraitfromsouthtonorthinwinter ,spring ,andautumn .TheKuroshioaf fectsnearcurrentfieldsandtemperaturefields,changingtheoceanenvironmentparametersandsoundpropagation .Thus ,theoceanacoustictomographytechniqueisofpotentialtolong term ,largescalemonitoringoftheocean .Themodalwavenumbertomographymethod (Rajanetal.,1 987;Frisketal.,1 989)isusedtoobtainthesoundspeedprofileinwatercol…     

A New Probability of Detection Model for Updating Crack Distribution of Offshore Structures

1 .IntroductionNondestructiveinspection (NDI)isveryimportantforensuringthereliabilityofoffshorestructuresintheirservicelives (Lauraetal.,1 996 ) .Itiswellknownthatdetectionofflawsinvolvesconsider ablestatisticaluncertainties.Asaresult,theprobabilityofdetection (POD)forallflawsofagivensizehasbeenusedintheliteraturetodefinethecapabilityofaparticularNDItechniqueinagivenen vironment.SincethedataofPODusuallyscatterlargely ,itisdifficulttodeterminewhichmodelfitstheavailabledatabest.Thismodelun…     

Effect of Sea Level Variation on Tidal Characteristic Values for the East China Sea

1 .IntroductionTheglobalairtemperatureroseabout 0 .5～ 0 .6°Coverthepast 2 0thcentury ,andtheglobalmeansealevelincreasedbyabout2 0cmduringtheperiod .Theregionalmeansealevelriseswiththerisingglobalmeansealevel.Zuoetal.( 1 997)indicatedthatthemeanrisingrateofabsolutemeansealevelalongtheChinacoastontheassumptionofunifiedisostaticdatumis 2mm a .Woodworth( 1 999)analyzedsealevelspanning 1 76 8tothepresentinLiverpool,andobtainedaseculartrendforheperiodupto 1 880of0 .39± 0 .1 7mm a ,andatrendfort…     

Sediment Transport in Rivers and Coastal Waters

Following Bagnold's approach, a relationship between sediment transport and energy dissipation is developed. The major assumption made in the study is that the near bed velocity plays a dominant role in the process of sediment transport. A general relationship between energy dissipation and sediment transport is first proposed. Then the equations for total sediment transport are derived by introducing the appropriate expression of energy dissipation rate under different conditions, such as open channel flows, combination of wave and current, as well as longshore sediment transport. Within the flows investigated, the derived relationships are fairly consistent with the available data over a wide range of conditions.