Time domain analysis on hydroelastic response of VLFS considering horizontal motion

Abstract

A time domain analysis on the hydroelastic deformation of a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) is investigated considering horizontal motion effect. In our previous study on time domain analysis, the only vertical motion of VLFS has been considered in the analysis of hydroelastic responses, which is appropriate for operational condition. But in the state of survival condition, the horizontal motion coupled with the hydroelastic response would be very important to design the mooring system of VLFS. In the present study, a three-dimensional free surface flow with the fully nonlinear free surface conditions is formulated in the scope of potential flow theory. A finite element method based on the variational principle is employed both for fluid motion and structural response. Elastic response of VLFS is analyzed by Mindlin plate model. The only surge motion is considered as the horizontal motion for numerical simplicity. Copyright ？ 2007 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers(ISOPE).