Session: 06-03-03 Fluid-Structure, Multi-body and Wave-body Interaction

Submission Number: 156991

Investigation of the Hydrodynamic Responses of a Moonpool With Damping Appendages Based on the Two-Way Coupled CFD-PF Method 

Moonpools are applied to various types of floating structures to provide a safe operation environment for launching and retrieving equipment. However, incident waves and induced motions of floating structures may cause resonant oscillations of the water inside the moonpool. In this study, the resonant responses of a fixed and a heaving moonpool are studied, and the damping effects of appendages installed on the side walls of moonpools are investigated. Simulations are performed by utilizing a numerical wave tank developed based on the hybrid two-way coupled field-domain decomposition method. In this method, viscous flow is solved near the floating structures to capture the nonlinear and viscous effects, and potential flow is solved in the far field to resolve the wave propagation problem efficiently. The wave elevation in the moonpool, the motions of the floating structure, and the hydrodynamic loads on the structure are analyzed. It is observed that the frequency corresponding to the peak horizontal force of the moonpool closely aligns with the gap resonance frequency. It is also found that the installed appendages in the moonpool reduce the fluid resonance amplitude within the moonpool and alter resonance response frequency. By adding more appendages to the moonpool, the suppression of resonant amplitude is further enhanced. 

Presenting Author: Yiren Li Harbin Engineering University

Presenting Author Biography: Yiren Li is a Master's student from the College of Shipbuilding Engineering of Harbin Engineering University. Her main research interest lies in hydrodynamic interaction of floating structures using CFD method.