Scholarlink

<p>Offshore platforms, such as spar platforms and floating docks, form the backbone of renewable energy production in offshore environments. Spar platforms are gaining prominence as a base for offshore wind turbines, whereas floating docks facilitate the installation of spar foundations. The primary function of the floating dock is to ensure protection from unfavourable weather conditions during the installation process. The structural reliability and design are founded on a detailed understanding of how they dynamically react to environmental loading such as wind, waves, and currents. Model testing and simulations employ scale models, and therefore, one should be aware of the scale effects on dynamic parameters of extreme significance, such as natural frequencies, damping ratios, and response amplitude operators (RAOs) in heave and pitch motions. Moreover, scale effects need to be analyzed due to variations in force ratios and viscous damping for laboratory models and prototypes. This paper settles this issue by investigating scale effects on heave and pitch motions of the floating dock and spar platform through free decay testing and hydrodynamic simulation through Star-CCM+ and ANSYS-AQWA. The two structures are tested with different geometric ratios of 1:1 (full scale), 1:20, 1:50, and 1:70; comparison is made on the basis of Froude scaling principles. The conclusion highlights that while the natural period nearly maintains dynamic similarity over scales, damping ratios increase noticeably in small-sized models due to increased viscous effects. In fact, damping ratio variations are over 30% for the small spar model and over 10% for the floating dock as compared to full scale. Moreover, RAOs of spar increase with size, while the smallest floating dock possesses the largest RAO, which is equivalent to non-linear scale-dependent behaviour. These remarks emphasize the importance of proper interpretation from scale model testing and the selection of appropriate scaling laws to ensure predictions of offshore structural responses.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Influence of Model Scale on Free Decay and RAO Characteristics of Spar Platform and Floating Dock

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月16日

查看全文
  • Soumyashree Pani,
  • Nilanjan Saha,
  • Sundaravadivelu Ranganathan

摘要

Offshore platforms, such as spar platforms and floating docks, form the backbone of renewable energy production in offshore environments. Spar platforms are gaining prominence as a base for offshore wind turbines, whereas floating docks facilitate the installation of spar foundations. The primary function of the floating dock is to ensure protection from unfavourable weather conditions during the installation process. The structural reliability and design are founded on a detailed understanding of how they dynamically react to environmental loading such as wind, waves, and currents. Model testing and simulations employ scale models, and therefore, one should be aware of the scale effects on dynamic parameters of extreme significance, such as natural frequencies, damping ratios, and response amplitude operators (RAOs) in heave and pitch motions. Moreover, scale effects need to be analyzed due to variations in force ratios and viscous damping for laboratory models and prototypes. This paper settles this issue by investigating scale effects on heave and pitch motions of the floating dock and spar platform through free decay testing and hydrodynamic simulation through Star-CCM+ and ANSYS-AQWA. The two structures are tested with different geometric ratios of 1:1 (full scale), 1:20, 1:50, and 1:70; comparison is made on the basis of Froude scaling principles. The conclusion highlights that while the natural period nearly maintains dynamic similarity over scales, damping ratios increase noticeably in small-sized models due to increased viscous effects. In fact, damping ratio variations are over 30% for the small spar model and over 10% for the floating dock as compared to full scale. Moreover, RAOs of spar increase with size, while the smallest floating dock possesses the largest RAO, which is equivalent to non-linear scale-dependent behaviour. These remarks emphasize the importance of proper interpretation from scale model testing and the selection of appropriate scaling laws to ensure predictions of offshore structural responses.