The higher-order boundary element method is applied to the numerical simulation of nonlinear waves radiated by a forced oscillating fully submerged vertical circular cylinder. In this time-domain approach, the mixed boundary value problem based on an Eulerian description at each time step is solved using the higher order boundary element method. The 4th-order Runge–Kutta scheme is adopted to update the free water surface boundary conditions expressed in a Lagrangian formulation. Following completion of the numerical model, the problems of radiation (heave) of water waves by a submerged sphere in finite depth are simulated and the computed results are verified against the published numerical results in order to ensure the effectiveness of the model. The validated numerical model is then applied to simulate the nonlinear wave radiation by a fully submerged vertical circular cylinder undergoing various forced sinusoidal motion in otherwise still conditions. The numerical results are obtained for a series of wave radiation problems; the completely submerged cylinder is placed in surging, heaving and combined heave-pitching motions with different drafts, amplitudes and frequencies. The corresponding numerical results of the cylinder motions, wave profiles, and hydrodynamic forces are then compared and explained for all the cases.

In this paper, added resistances acting on a hull of non ballast water ship (NBS) in high waves is discussed. The non ballast water ships were developed at the laboratory of the authors at Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. In the present paper, the performances of three kinds of bow shapes developed for the NBS were theoretically and experimentally investigated to find the best one in high waves. In previous papers, an optimum bow shape for the NBS was developed in calm water and in moderated waves. For a 2 m model for experiments and computations, the wave height is 0.02 m. This means that the wave height is 15% of the draft of the ship in full load conditions. In this paper, added resistances in high waves up to 0.07 m for a 2 m model or 53% of the full load draft are investigated. In such high waves linear wave theories which have been used in the design stage of a ship for a long time may not work well anymore, and experiments are the only effective tool to predict the added resistance in high waves. With the computations for waves, the ship is in a fully captured condition because shorter waves, λ/Lpp<0.6, are assumed.

The objective of this work is to analyze the fatigue reliability of complex welded structures composed of multiple web-frame joints, accounting for correlation effects. A three-dimensional finite element model using the 20-node solid elements is generated. A linear elastic finite element analysis was performed, hotspot stresses in a web-frame joint were analyzed and fatigue damage was quantified employing the S-N approach. The statistical descriptors of the fatigue life of a non-correlated web-frame joint containing several critical hotspots were estimated. The fatigue reliability of a web-frame joint wasmodeled as a series system of correlated components using the Ditlevsen bounds. The fatigue reliability of the entire welded structure with multiple web-frame joints, modeled as a parallel system of non-correlated web-frame joints was also calculated.

The structures in engineering can be simplified into elastic beams with concentrated masses and elastic spring supports. Studying the law of vibration of the beams can be a help in guiding its design and avoiding resonance. Based on the Laplace transform method, the mode shape functions and the frequency equations of the beams in the typical boundary conditions are derived. A cantilever beam with a lumped mass and a spring is selected to obtain its natural frequencies and mode shape functions. An experiment was conducted in order to get the modal parameters of the beam based on the NExT-ERA method. By comparing the analytical and experimental results, the effects of the locations of the mass and spring on the modal parameter are discussed. The variation of the natural frequencies was obtained with the changing stiffness coefficient and mass coefficient, respectively. The findings provide a reference for the vibration analysis methods and the lumped parameters layout design of elastic beams used in engineering.

The added mass coefficient and the water level index formulas for the same-phase and anti-phase vibration of rectangular liquid tanks’ bulkheads were derived based on dry mode theory. Three fluid-structure interaction numerical methods including Fluid FEM and Fluid BEM were used in this case. The comparison of numerical and theoretical results by the present method shows that ANSYS/Fluid80 is more credible, the NASTRAN/Virtual Mass Method is more suitable for engineering calculations and results of the same-phase vibration by the present method is more accurate.

The stiffened cylindrical shell is commonly used for the pressure hull of submersibles and the legs of offshore platforms. There are various failure modes because of uncertainty with the structural size and material properties, uncertainty of the calculation model and machining errors. Correlations among failure modes must be considered with the structural reliability of stiffened cylindrical shells. However, the traditional method cannot consider the correlations effectively. The aim of this study is to present a method of reliability analysis for stiffened cylindrical shells which considers the correlations among failure modes. Firstly, the joint failure probability calculation formula of two related failure modes is derived through use of the 2D joint probability density function. Secondly, the full probability formula of the tandem structural system is given with consideration to the correlations among failure modes. At last, the accuracy of the system reliability calculation is verified through use of the Monte Carlo simulation. Result of the analysis shows the failure probability of stiffened cylindrical shells can be gained through adding the failure probability of each mode.

Global strength is a significant item for floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) design, and steel weight plays an important role in the building costs of FPSO. It is the main task to consider and combine these two aspects by optimizing hull dimensions. There are many optional methods for the global strength analysis. A common method is to use the ABS FPSO Eagle software to analyze the global strength including the rule check and direct strength analysis. And the same method can be adopted for the FPSO hull optimization by changing the depth. After calculation and optimization, the results are compared and analyzed. The results can be used as a reference for the future design or quotation purpose.

As a novel type of foundation in beach and shallow sea, the bucket structure is especially suitable for complex conditions such as soft clay ground and the worse types of sea environments. In this paper, the bearing capacity of a multi-bucket structure is studied by experiments with a single bucket and four-bucket foundation in a saturated sand layer. Based on the experimental data and numerical analysis results, the bearing capacity behavior and the bucket group effect are compared and analyzed. Furthermore, some influential factors, such as the soil type, the ratio of length to diameter L/D, the ratio of the bucket spacing to the bucket diameter S/D, and the bucket number are introduced and their effects on the multi-bucket structural capacity are investigated. The vertical static capacity adjustment factor is introduced to evaluate the bucket group effects of the multi-bucket foundation.

This paper studies the current available options for floating production platforms in developing deepwater oil fields and the potential development models of future oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea. A detailed review of current deepwater platforms worldwide was performed through the examples of industry projects, and the pros and cons of each platform are discussed. Four types of platforms are currently used for the deepwater development: tension leg platform, Spar, semi-submersible platform, and the floating production system offloading. Among these, the TLP and Spar can be used for dry tree applications, and have gained popularity in recent years. The dry tree application enables the extension of the drilling application for fixed platforms into floating systems, and greatly reduces the cost and complexity of the subsea operation. Newly built wet tree semi-submersible production platforms for ultra deepwater are also getting their application, mainly due to the much needed payload for deepwater making the conversion of the old drilling semi-submersible platforms impossible. These platforms have been used in different fields around the world for different environments; each has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are many challenges with the successful use of these floating platforms. A lot of lessons have been learned and extensive experience accumulated through the many project applications. Key technologies are being reviewed for the successful use of floating platforms for field development, and potential future development needs are being discussed. Some of the technologies and experience of platform applications can be well used for the development of the South China Sea oil and gas field.

The chain/wire rope/chain combination is a common choice for mooring offshore floating platforms. However, data of the drag coefficients of chain links are rather limited, resulting in uncertainties with the calculations of the drag force, and hence the damping of the mooring system. In this paper, the importance of the selection of the drag coefficient is first investigated. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is then used to determine the drag coefficients of a studless chain under steady flows. Numerical model validation is first completed by simulating a smooth circular cylinder under steady flows. In particular, the performance of different turbulence models is assessed through the comparisons between the calculations and the experimental results. The large eddy simulation (LES) model is finally selected for the simulation of steady flows past a chain. The effects of the Reynolds number on the drag coefficient of a stud-less chain is also studied. The results show that the calculated drag coefficients of a stud-less chain are fairly consistent with the available experimental data.

This paper discusses the numerical modeling of the dynamic coupled analysis of the floating platform and mooring/risers using the asynchronous coupling algorithm with the purpose to improve the computational efficiency when multiple lines are connected to the platform. The numerical model of the platform motion simulation in wave is presented. Additionally, how the asynchronous coupling algorithm is implemented during the dynamic coupling analysis is introduced. Through a comparison of the numerical results of our developed model with commercial software for a SPAR platform, the developed numerical model is checked and validated.

The research purpose of this paper is to estimate the impacts of the parameters of the guide plate on the vertical motion characteristics of the moonpool fluid. With the volume of fluid (VOF) method, three-dimensional models of the moonpool fluid motions of the truss spar platform are established. Simulation results are then presented for the moonpool forced oscillation by employing the dynamic mesh method and user-defined functions in FLUENT. The motions of the moonpool fluid and the loads on the guide plates are obtained for both cases of square-ring and crisscross. The results show that the shape and area of the guide plate at the bottom of the moonpool have a significant impact on the physical parameters of the moonpool, including the load on the moonpool guide plate, motion form of the moonpool fluid and the mass flow rate.

The solution for the Duffing equation in a nonlinear vibration problem is studied in this paper. Clearly, in the case of the perturb parameter being a larger value, the traditional perturbation method is no longer valid but the Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is applicable usually. HPM is used to solve the weak and strong nonlinear differential equations for finding the perturbed frequency of the response. The obtained frequencies via HPM and the approximate method have good accordance for weak and strong nonlinear differential equations. Additionally, the calculated responses by use of the approximate method are compared with the responses obtained from the Numerical method in the time history of the response and phase plane. The results represent good accordance between them.

This paper describes path re-planning techniques and underwater obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicle (USV) based on multi-beam forward looking sonar (FLS). Near-optimal paths in static and dynamic environments with underwater obstacles are computed using a numerical solution procedure based on an A* algorithm. The USV is modeled with a circular shape in 2 degrees of freedom (surge and yaw). In this paper, two-dimensional (2-D) underwater obstacle avoidance and the robust real-time path re-planning technique for actual USV using multi-beam FLS are developed. Our real-time path re-planning algorithm has been tested to regenerate the optimal path for several updated frames in the field of view of the sonar with a proper update frequency of the FLS. The performance of the proposed method was verified through simulations, and sea experiments. For simulations, the USV model can avoid both a single stationary obstacle, multiple stationary obstacles and moving obstacles with the near-optimal trajectory that are performed both in the vehicle and the world reference frame. For sea experiments, the proposed method for an underwater obstacle avoidance system is implemented with a USV test platform. The actual USV is automatically controlled and succeeded in its real-time avoidance against the stationary undersea obstacle in the field of view of the FLS together with the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the USV.

In the present study an attempt has been made to investigate the relationship between the variations in the fouling assemblage and corrosion behaviour of HSLA steel at three coastal locations in the Gulf of Mannar, India, over a period of 24 months. Oyster fouling was dominant in the Tuticorin open sea, while barnacles were the major foulants in the Tuticorin harbour and Mandapam. The fouling load in the Tuticorin waters was higher when compared to the Mandapam waters. The corrosion rates decreased progressively with the immersion time at all three test locations. In the Tuticorin open sea, the corrosion rates were higher when compared to the other two locations throughout the study period. The surface of the coupons was characterized by crevices beneath the hard foulers in the Tuticorin harbour and Mandapam, whereas in the Tuticorin open sea, the coupons experienced crevices of a tunneling nature. The percentage of the loss of the tensile strength increased with time at all the test locations.