Analysis of the Hydroelastic Performance of Very Large Floating Structures Based on Multi-Modules Beam Theory

摘要: The hydroelastic behavior of very large floating structures (VLFSs) is investigated based on the proposed multi-modules beam theory (MBT). To carry out the analysis, the VLFS is first divided into multiple sub-modules that are connected through their gravity center by a spatial beam with specific stiffness. The external force exerted on the sub-modules includes the wave hydrodynamic force as well as the beam bending force due to the relative displacements of different sub-modules. The wave hydrodynamic force is computed based on three-dimensional incompressible velocity potential theory, and the boundary element method with the free surface Green function as the integral kernel is adopted to numerically find the solution. The beam bending force is expressed in the form of a stiffness matrix. The coupled motion equation is established according to the continuous conditions of the displacement and force. The motion response defined at the gravity center of the sub-modules is solved by the multi-body hydrodynamic control equations, then both the displacement and the structure bending moment of the VLFS are determined from the stiffness matrix equations. To account for the moving point mass effects, the proposed method is extended to the time domain based on impulse response function (IRF) theory. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified by comparison with existing results. Detailed results through the displacement and bending moment of the VLFS are provided to show the influence of the number of the sub-modules, and the influence of the moving point mass.