Heat flow analysis of an FPSO topside model with wind effect taken into account: A wind-tunnel test and CFD simulation

The aim of this paper is to study the feasibility of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to examine the effect of wind on the thermal-diffusion characteristics of floating production storage and offloading (FSPO) topside models subject to fire. It is motivated by the need to identify the fire loads on FPSO topsides, taking into account the effects of wind speed and direction as well as the effects of geometry of the FPSO topsides. The results of a wind-tunnel test and CFD simulation undertaken for these purposes on a 1/14-scale FPSO topside model of a VLCC class FPSO unit are reported here. In the wind-tunnel test, the locations of the heat source of the fire are varied, as are the speed and direction of the wind, and the temperature distribution is measured. CFD simulations, using the ANSYS CFX (2009) program, were performed on the test model, with the results compared with the experimental results. It is concluded that wind has a significant effect on the thermal-diffusion characteristics of the test model and that the CFD simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. The insights developed in this study will be very useful for the fire engineering of FPSO topsides.