Hydroelastic Analysis of Pontoon-Type Very Large Floating Structures in Random Seas

Abstract eng:
Very large floating structures (VLFS) are offshore structures whereby the elastic response is dominant compared to rigid body motions (Wang et al. 2008). Their domain of applicability ranges from floating storage facilities and floating piers to floating airports. We focus on pontoon-type VLFS, which are structures that behave like giant plates resting on the sea surfaces. The hydroelastic response of such structures is obtained by resolving the interaction between the surface waves and the floating elastic body. The solution of the coupled fluid-structure interaction problem is carried out in the frequency domain by application of the modal expansion method (Newman 1994). The boundary element method is used to solve the Laplace equation together with the fluid boundary conditions for the velocity potential, whereas the finite element method is adopted for solving the deflection of the floating plate. The structure is assumed to float on a random sea, described by a directional wave spectrum. The Response spectrum is obtained by a discrete evaluation of the relevant transfer matrix derived from the computational solution approach. This is achieved by discretization of the frequency domain and numerical integration of the directional components of the spectrum. Moreover, we investigate the influence of the expected wave angle on the variance of the response.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket