Hydrodynamic response of a pneumatic floating platform

This paper describes a numerical approach to model the dynamic response of a pneumatic floating platform, and the laboratory experiments and parametric study to verify the numerical results. The pneumatic platform is composed of an array of open-bottom vertical cylinders trapping pressurized air that displaces the water. The cylinder diameter is assumed to be small compared to the wavelength and the water inside each cylinder oscillates as a piston. These assumptions simplify the mathematical formulation in that the bottom of the platform can be treated as a continuous surface on which the source distribution method can be applied. In the laboratory experiments, the compressibility and displacement of the trapped air are modeled by a spring and float assembly. The comparison between the numerical and experimental results indicates favorable agreement. The oscillation of the water columns and the overall dynamic characteristics of the platform are illustrated and discussed in the parametric study.