Heave Motion of a Vertical Cylinder with Heave Plates

Abstract

The shape of a vertical cylinder resembles the classic form of a spar platform. Spar platforms are floating platforms that are successfully used in waters of great depths and have several advantages that mean they are readily used in the oil industry. Many of these advantages are also relevant to their application for offshore wind turbines, which is currently being considered. In the hydrodynamic analysis of spar platforms, the determination of their hydrodynamic coefficients plays an important role. They can be determined based on the free decay test. The study presents a method for determining the hydrodynamic coefficients of an object based on the free decay test. The results of free oscillation calculations with the help of numerical fluid mechanics tools are presented and compared with the results of the experiment and analytical solution. The application of determined coefficients and their significance for floating platforms are discussed. The influence of change in the form of an additional damping element on the behaviour of spar structures is shown.

Keywords

• spar platforms
• heave plates
• damping coefficient
• added mass coefficient