Floatation Models for Offshore Platform Analysis

The following demonstrations illustrate the capabilities of our CFD model aimed at the design of floating platforms for oil rigs and offshore wind farms. With this capability we can solve marine problems in which vessels are not constrained to fixed positions, but rather move responding to hydrostatic, aero/hydro-dynamic and other external forces. This allows us to predict the water line of the vessel in operating conditions, which is crucial in evaluating its hydrodynamic efficiency and stability.

To base solver used to generate the animations in this page comprises the following modules:

• unsteady turbulent flow solver
• volume tracking for multi-phase (air & water) modeling
• mesh deformation to accommodate body motion
• six degrees of  freedom body motion solver

Recently we improved upon the above capabilities introducing utilities with the below functions:

• computing the mass and inertia of complex assemblies utilizing component material properties
• modeling the forces due to flexible mooring lines for anchoring or stabilization
• boundary conditions for incoming ocean waves coupled with atmospheric wind profiles

Combining the above capabilities, which are non-existent among standard CFD solvers, we are now able to perform simulations of complex scenarios with multiple marine vessels and platforms responding to the wave/wind forces and the attached mooring lines.