Time domain analysis of hydroelastic response of VLFS considering horizontal motion

Abstract

A time domain analysis of the hydroelastic deformation of a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) is investigated considering the horizontal motion effect. In our previous study on time domain analysis, the only vertical motion of VLFS was considered in the analysis of hydroelastic responses, which is appropriate for operational conditions. But in the survival-condition state, the horizontal motion coupled with the hydroelastic response would be very important in designing the VLFS mooring system. In this study, a 3-dimensional free-surface flow with 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. The VLFS elastic response is analyzed by the Mindlin plate model. For numerical simplicity, the only surge motion is considered for the horizontal motion.