Reduction of hydroelastic responses of a very-long floating structure by a floating oscillating-water-column breakwater system

The hydroelastic responses of a very-long floating structure (VLFS) placed behind a reverse T-shape freely floating breakwater with a built-in oscillating water column (OWC) chamber are analyzed in two dimensions. The Bernoulli–Euler beam equation is coupled with the equations of rigid and elastic motions of the breakwater and the VLFS. The interaction of waves between the floating rigid breakwater and the elastic VLFS is formulated in a consistent manner. It has been shown numerically that the structural deflections of the VLFS can be reduced significantly by a suitably designed reverse T-shape floating breakwater.     

Evaluation of bending moments and shear forces at unit connections of very large floating structures using hydroelastic and rigid body analyses

This paper investigates the characteristics of bending moments, shear forces and stresses at unit connections of very large floating structures (VLFS) under wave loads. The responses of VLFS are calculated by solving multi-body motion equation considering hydroelasticity and connection stiffness. Hydroelastic responses are calculated by the direct method. Higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) is used for fluid analysis and finite element method (FEM) is introduced for structural analysis. The equation of motion is modified to describe the unit connections by employing spring elements. Bending moments and shear forces at the connections are obtained from the dynamic equilibrium condition for pressures and inertia forces. Two types of VLFS units such as tandem arranged units and side-by-side arranged units are considered in the numerical examples. The influences of connection stiffness, wave frequency and heading angle on responses of VLFS are investigated through the numerical examples. Rigid body analysis along with hydroelastic analysis is also carried out in the numerical analysis and comparison of those two approaches is discussed.     

箱式超大型浮体结构在规则波中的水弹性响应研究

利用三维线性水弹性理论研究了箱式超大型浮体结构在正弦规则波中的动力响应，用Bernoulli-Euler梁解析解计算结构在真空中的动力特性，用弹性体三维势流理论计算结构的水动力系数，浮体结构在单位波幅规则波中的刚体运动幅值与DNV／WADAM程序的计算结果进行了比较，并给出了垂向弯曲模态的位移，弯矩随波浪频率的变化规律，由于箱式浮体结构的低阶固有频率很低，相应的弹性振型的响应与刚体运动耦合，结构在波浪中没有发现明显的低阶弹性模态谐振。     

A Study on Hydroelastic Response of Box-Type Very Large Floating Structures

The application of very large floating structure (VLFS) to the utilization of ocean space and exploitation of ocean resources has become one of the issues of great interest in international ocean engineering field. Owing to the advantage of simplicity in structure and low cost of construction and maintenance, box-type VLFS can be used in the calm water area near the coast as the structure configuration of floating airport. In this paper, a 3D linear hydroelastic theory is used to study the dynamic response of box-type VLFS in sinusoidal regular waves. A beam model and a 3D FEM model are respectively employed to describe the dynamic characteristics of the box-type structure in vacuum. A hydrodynamic model (3D potential theory of flexible body) is applied to investigate the effect of different dry models on the hydroelastic response of box-type structure. Based on the calculation of hydroelastic response in regular waves, the rigid body motion displacement, flexible deflection, and the short term and long     

Extracting energy while reducing hydroelastic responses of VLFS using a modular raft wec-type attachment

This paper presents the use of a modular raft Wave Energy Converter (WEC)-type attachment at the fore edge of a rectangular Very Large Floating Structure (VLFS) for extracting wave energy while reducing hydroelastic responses of the VLFS under wave action. The proposed modular attachment comprises multiple independent auxiliary pontoons (i.e. modules) that are connected to the fore edge of the VLFS with hinges and linear Power Take-Off (PTO) systems. For the hydroelastic analysis, the auxiliary pontoons and the VLFS are modelled by using the Mindlin plate theory while the linear wave theory is used for modelling the fluid motion. The analysis is performed in the frequency domain using the hybrid Finite Element-Boundary Element (FE-BE) method. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of pontoon length, PTO damping coefficient, gap between auxiliary pontoons, and incident wave angle on the power capture factor as well as reductions in the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS with the modular attachment. It is found that in oblique waves, the modular attachment comprising multiple narrow pontoons outperforms the corresponding rigid attachment that consists of a single wide pontoon with respect to the power capture factor and the reduction in the deflection of the VLFS. In addition, it is possible to have a considerable gap between pontoons without significantly compromising the effectiveness of the modular attachment.     

Hydroelastic responses and drift forces of a very-long floating structure equipped with a pin-connected oscillating-water-column breakwater system

The hydroelastic responses of a very-long floating structure (VLFS) in waves connected to a floating oscillating-water-column (OWC) breakwater system by a pin are analyzed by making use of the modal expansion method in two dimensions. The Bernoulli–Euler beam equation for the VLFS is coupled with the equations of motions of the breakwater taking account of the geometric and dynamic boundary conditions at the pin. The Legendre polynomials are employed as admissible functions representing the assumed modes of the VLFS with pinned-free-boundary conditions. It has been shown numerically that the deflections, bending moments and shear forces of the VLFS in waves can be reduced significantly by a pin-connected OWC breakwater. The time-mean horizontal drift forces of the VLFS equipped with the breakwater calculated by the near-field method are also presented.     

Hydroelastic response of a very large floating structure over a variable bottom topography

An influence of sea-bottom topography on the hydroelastic response of a Very Large Floating Structure (VLFS) is considered. When the floating structure is constructed near the shore, the sea-bottom topographical effect should be considered. In this study, the effect of sea-bottom topography is investigated for four different bottom cases. To calculate the sea-bottom effects rigorously, the finite-element method based on the variational formulation is used in the fluid domain. The pontoon-type floating structure is modeled as the Kirchhoff plate. The mode superposition method is adopted for the hydroelastic behavior of the floating structure.     

基于CFD-FEM的浮式结构水弹性响应数值模拟

开发并验证了一种基于CFD-FEM耦合的弹性浮体水弹性响应计算模拟方法。采用CFD方法建立黏性数值水池模拟非线性波浪,弹性浮板进行有限元离散,并在交界面进行数据交互实现耦合计算;通过与水池试验数据和三维板理论在各种波浪环境下的浮体垂向位移结果对比,证实CFD-FEM耦合方法的有效性。并进一步研究了浮板的厚度、入射波波幅和浮板的三维效应对浮板水弹性响应的影响。结论表明,波幅的增加会加剧弹性浮板的水弹性响应,浮板各点处的垂向位移随波幅的增加而增大;当浮板厚度改变时,不同厚度浮板自由端处的垂向位移差异较小,而在中部等位置处,厚度对浮板的水弹性响应有较大的影响。     

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Hydrodynamic Interactions of Two VLFS Modules Deployed in Tandem

This paper numerically and experimentally investigates the hydrodynamic interaction between two semi-submersible type VLFS modules in the frequency domain. Model tests were conducted to investigate the relationship between interactions and wave headings. Numerical studies were performed by solving the radiation-diffraction problem and were validated against the experimental results. Motion Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) were obtained from numerical and experimental studies. The dependency of the hydrodynamic interaction effect on wave headings is clarified. The influence of different wave periods on the motion responses of two-module VLFS and wave elevations in the gap is studied. The results indicate that the hydrodynamic interactions of the two modules are directly related to the wave headings and the periods of the incident wave. The shielding effect plays an important role in short wave, and the influence decreases with the increase of the incident wavelength. The numerical results based on the diffraction-radiation code can give a relatively good estimation to the responses in short wave while for long wave, it would over-predict the response.     

超大型海洋浮式结构物开发过程需要解决的关键技术问题

在我国研制和开发超大型海洋海式结构物（ＶＬＦＳ）对本世纪河北省工程的持续发展具有极为深远的战略意义。为了在我国研制和开发ＶＬＦＳ,首先必须要表楚在超大型海洋浮式结构物开发过程中需要解决的关键技术问题。本文通过对国际上大量文献的阅读和消化并经归纳和整理,从六个方面提出了需要研究解决的问题：（１）概念设计,（２）动力特性预报,（３）设计和建造,（４）可服役性、耐久性和可维性,（５）事故载荷和风险评估,