Response Based Identification of Critical Wave Scenarios

Author(s):  
Günther F. Clauss ◽  
Marco Klein ◽  
Carlos Guedes Soares ◽  
Nuno Fonseca

In the last years the identification and investigation of critical wave sequences regarding offshore structure responses became one of the main topics in the ocean engineering community. Thereby the area of interest covers the entire field of application spectra at sea — from efficient and economic offshore operations in moderate sea states to reliability as well as survival in extreme wave conditions. For most cases, the focus lies on limiting criteria for the design, such as maximum global loads, maximum relative motions between two or more vessels or maximum accelerations, at which the floating structure has to operate or to survive. These criteria are typically combined with a limiting characteristic sea state (Hs, Tp) or a rogue wave. For the investigation of offshore structures as well as the identification of critical wave sequences, different approaches are available — most of them are based on linear transfer functions as it is an efficient procedure for the fast holistic evaluation. But, for some cases the linear method approach implies uncertainties due to nonlinear response behavior, in particular in extreme wave conditions. This paper presents an approach to these challenges, a response based optimization tool for critical wave sequence detection. This tool, which has been successfully introduced for the evaluation of the applicability of a multi-body system based on the linear method approach, is adjusted to a nonlinear task — the vertical bending moment of a chemical tanker in extreme wave conditions. Therefore a nonlinear strip theory solver is introduced into the optimization routine to capture the nonlinear effects on the vertical bending moment due to steep waves acting on large bow flares. The goal of the procedure is to find a worst case wave sequence for a certain critical sea state. This includes intensive numerical investigation as well as model test validation.

Author(s):  
Günther F. Clauss ◽  
Marco Klein ◽  
Carlos Guedes Soares ◽  
Nuno Fonseca

In the past few years the identification and investigation of critical wave sequences in terms of offshore structure responses became one of the main topics in the ocean engineering community. Thereby the area of interest covers the entire field of application spectra at sea—from efficient and economic offshore operations in moderate sea states to reliability as well as survival in extreme wave conditions. For most cases, the focus lies on limiting criteria for the design, such as maximum global loads, maximum relative motions between two or more vessels, or maximum accelerations, at which the floating structure has to operate or to survive. These criteria are typically combined with a limiting characteristic sea state (Hs, Tp) or a rogue wave. For the investigation of offshore structures as well as the identification of critical wave sequences, different approaches are available—most of them are based on linear transfer functions as it is an efficient procedure for the fast holistic evaluation. But, for some cases the linear method approach implies uncertainties due to nonlinear response behavior, in particular in extreme wave conditions. This paper presents an approach to these challenges, a response based optimization tool for critical wave sequence detection. This tool, which has been successfully introduced for the evaluation of the applicability of a multibody system based on the linear method approach, is adjusted to a nonlinear task—the vertical bending moment of a chemical tanker in extreme wave conditions. Therefore a nonlinear strip theory solver is introduced into the optimization routine to capture the nonlinear effects on the vertical bending moment due to steep waves. The goal of the procedure is to find a worst case wave sequence for a certain critical sea state. This includes intensive numerical investigation as well as model test validation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Espen Engebretsen ◽  
Sverre K. Haver ◽  
Dag Myrhaug

In design of offshore wind turbines, extreme wave conditions are of interest. Usually, the design wave condition is taken as the sea state corresponding to an annual exceedance probability of 2 × 10−2, i.e., a return period of 50 years. A possible location for a future wind farm, consisting of bottom fixed wind turbines, is the Doggerbank area. The water depth in this area varies from about 60 m in the north to about 20 m in the south. The hindcast database NORA10 provides sea state characteristics from 1957 to present over a domain covering Doggerbank. Regarding the deeper areas just north of Doggerbank, this hindcast model is found to be of good quality. Larger uncertainties are associated with the hindcast results as we approach shallower water further south. The purpose of the present study is to compare sea state evolution over Doggerbank as reflected by NORA10 with the results of the commonly used shallow water hindcast model SWAN. The adequacy of the default parameters of SWAN for reflecting changes in wave conditions over a sloping bottom is investigated by comparison with model test results. Extreme wave conditions for two locations 102.5 km apart in a north–south direction are established using NORA10. This is done using both, an all sea states approach and a peak over threshold (POT) approach. Assuming the extremes for the northern position to represent good estimates, the wave evolution southward is analyzed using SWAN. The extreme condition obtained from NORA10 in the northern position is used as input to SWAN and the results from the two hindcast models are compared in the southern position. SWAN seems to suggest a somewhat faster decay over Doggerbank compared to NORA10.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent S. Neary ◽  
Seongho Ahn ◽  
Bibiana E. Seng ◽  
Mohammad Nabi Allahdadi ◽  
Taiping Wang ◽  
...  

Best practices and international standards for determining n-year return period extreme wave (sea states) conditions allow wave energy converter designers and project developers the option to apply simple univariate or more complex bivariate extreme value analysis methods. The present study compares extreme sea state estimates derived from univariate and bivariate methods and investigates the performance of spectral wave models for predicting extreme sea states at buoy locations within several regional wave climates along the US East and West Coasts. Two common third-generation spectral wave models are evaluated, a WAVEWATCH III® model with a grid resolution of 4 arc-minutes (6–7 km), and a Simulating WAves Nearshore model, with a coastal resolution of 200–300 m. Both models are used to generate multi-year hindcasts, from which extreme sea state statistics used for wave conditions characterization can be derived and compared to those based on in-situ observations at National Data Buoy Center stations. Comparison of results using different univariate and bivariate methods from the same data source indicates reasonable agreement on average. Discrepancies are predominantly random. Large discrepancies are common and increase with return period. There is a systematic underbias for extreme significant wave heights derived from model hindcasts compared to those derived from buoy measurements. This underbias is dependent on model spatial resolution. However, simple linear corrections can effectively compensate for this bias. A similar approach is not possible for correcting model-derived environmental contours, but other methods, e.g., machine learning, should be explored.


Author(s):  
Espen Engebretsen ◽  
Sverre K. Haver ◽  
Dag Myrhaug

In design of offshore wind turbines, extreme wave conditions are of interest. Usually, the design wave condition is taken as the sea state corresponding to an annual exceedance probability of 2·10−2, i.e. a return period of 50 years. A possible location for a future wind farm, consisting of bottom fixed wind turbines, is the Doggerbank area, see Figure 1. The water depth in this area varies from about 60m in the north to about 20m in the south. The hindcast database NORA10 provides sea state characteristics from 1957 to present over a domain covering Doggerbank. Regarding the deeper areas just north of Doggerbank, this hindcast model is found to be of good quality. Larger uncertainties are associated with the hindcast results as we approach shallower water further south. The purpose of the present study is to compare sea state evolution over Doggerbank as reflected by NORA10 with the results of commonly used shallow water hindcast model SWAN. The adequacy of the default parameters of SWAN for reflecting changes in wave conditions over a sloping bottom is investigated by comparison with model test results. Extreme wave conditions for two locations 102.5km apart in a north–south direction are established using NORA10. This is done using both an all sea states approach and a peak over threshold approach. Assuming the extremes for the northern position to represent good estimates, the wave evolution southwards is analyzed using SWAN. The extreme condition obtained from NORA10 in the northern position is used as input to SWAN and the results from the two hindcast models are compared in the southern position. SWAN seems to suggest a somewhat faster decay over Doggerbank compared to NORA10.


Author(s):  
Shivaji Ganesan Thirunaavukarasu ◽  
Debabrata Sen ◽  
Yogendra Parihar

This paper presents a detail comparative study on wave induced vertical bending moment (VBM) between linear and approximate nonlinear calculations using a 3D numerical wave tank (NWT) method. The developed numerical approach is in time domain where the ambient incident waves can be defined by any suitable wave theory. Certain justifying approximations employed in the solution of the interaction hydrodynamics (diffraction and radiation) enabling the NWT to generate stable long duration time histories of all parameters of interest. This is an extension of our earlier works towards the development of a practical NWT based solution for wave-structure interactions [1]. After a brief outline of the implemented numerical details, a comprehensive validation and verification of vertical shear force (VSF) and bending moment RAOs computed using the linearized version of the NWT against the usual linear results of strip theory and 3D panel codes are presented. Next we undertake the comparative study between the fully linear and approximate nonlinear versions of the present code for different incident wave steepness. In the approximate nonlinear formulation, the ambient incident wave is defined by the full nonlinear numerical wave model based on Fourier approximation method which can generate very steep steady periodic nonlinear waves up to the near wave breaking limit. The nonlinearities associated with the incident Froude Krylov and hydrostatic restoring forces/moments are exact up to the instantaneous wetted surface at the displaced location, but the hydrodynamic diffraction and radiation effects are linearized around the mean wetted surface. The standard S175 container hull is considered for the comparative studies because of its geometric nonlinearities. Numerical simulations are performed for four different wave lengths with increasing wave steepness. It is observed that the computed wave induced VBM amidships from the approximate nonlinear results can be almost 30% higher compared to the results from a purely linear solution, which can be a critical issue from the safety point. Significant higher harmonics are also observed in the approximate nonlinear results which at some times may be responsible for exciting the undesirable whipping/springing responses.


2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (04) ◽  
pp. 261-272
Author(s):  
Gro Sagli Baarholm ◽  
Jørgen Juncher Jensen

This paper is concerned with estimating the response value corresponding to a long return period, say 20 years. Time domain simulation is required to obtain the nonlinear response, and long time series are required to limit the statistical uncertainty in the simulations. It is crucial to introduce ways to improve the efficiency in the calculation. A method to determine the long-term extremes by considering only a few short-term sea states is applied. Long-term extreme values are estimated using a set of sea states that have a certain probability of occurrence, known as the contour line approach. Effect of whipping is included by assuming that the whipping and wave-induced responses are independent, but the effect of correlation of the long-term extreme value is also studied. Numerical calculations are performed using a nonlinear, hydroelastic strip theory as suggested by Xia et al (1998). Results are presented for the S-175 containership (ITTC 1983) in head sea waves. The analysis shows that whipping increases the vertical bending moment and that the correlation is significant.


Author(s):  
Gu¨nther F. Clauss ◽  
Matthias Dudek ◽  
Marco Klein

The precise knowledge of loads and motions in extreme sea states is indispensable to ensure reliability and survival of ships and floating offshore structures. In the last decades, several accidents in severe weather with disastrous consequences have shown the need for further investigations. Besides the sea state behavior and the local structural loads, one key parameter for safe ship design is the vertical bending moment. Previous investigations revealed that different ship design criteria, such as bow geometry and wave board height, affect the global loads significantly. Investigations in regular waves as well as in single high waves of vessels with different bow flares and freeboard heights show that the vertical bending moment increases significantly with increasing bow flare and freeboard height. Furthermore it became apparent that critical loads and motions do not have to come along with the highest wave which results in the main question of this paper: What is the worst case scenario — the highest rogue wave or a wave group with certain frequency characteristics? Which sea states have to be taken into account for the experimental evaluation of limiting criteria? This paper presents investigations in different critical wave sequences, i.e. two real-sea registrations accompanied by results in regular waves to evaluate the influence of the encountering wave characteristics on the vertical bending moment. For the model tests in the seakeeping basin of the Technical University Berlin a segmented RoRo vessel with large bow flare has been built at a scale of 1:70 and equipped with force transducers. The paper proves that critical loads and motions depend most notably on combinations of wave height, wave group sequences, crest steepness, encountering speed and the ships target position: Even small wave heights with unfavorable wave lengths can cause a critical situation.


Author(s):  
S E Heggelund ◽  
T Moan ◽  
S Oma

Methods for calculation of design loads for high-speed vessels are investigated. The influence of operational restrictions on design loads is emphasized. Relevant operational criteria for high-speed displacement vessels are discussed. Procedures and criteria for numerical calculation of operational limits are incomplete and should be further investigated. Operational limits and design loads for a 60 m catamaran are calculated on the basis of linear strip theory. Non-linear effects on design loads are assessed from calculations in regular waves. Simplified formulae commonly used by classification societies for prediction of operational limits seem to over-predict the reduction of motions and wave loads at reduced speed. When operational limits typically given by the shipmaster or the operator are used, the design loads found by direct calculations are comparable with design loads given by classification societies. For vertical bending moment and torsion, the use of active foils is found to increase the linear loads. Owing to reduced motions, the foils reduce the non-linear loads and hence the total loads. The effect of non-linear horizontal loads is not investigated but can be important for transverse bending moment.


Author(s):  
Suresh Rajendran ◽  
Nuno Fonseca ◽  
C. Guedes Soares ◽  
Gu¨nther F. Clauss ◽  
Marco Klein

The paper presents experimental results from model tests with a containership advancing in abnormal wave conditions and comparisons with numerical simulations. A nonlinear time domain method based on strip theory is used for the calculation of vertical ship responses induced by abnormal waves. This code combines the linear diffraction and radiation forces with dominant nonlinear forces associated with vertical response arising from Froude-Krylov forces, hydrostatic forces and shipping of green water. The time domain simulations are compared directly with experimental records from tests with a model of a container ship in deterministic waves for a range of Froude numbers. Extreme sea conditions were replicated by the reproduction of realistic abnormal waves like the New Year Wave and abnormal wave from North Alwyn. Head sea condition is considered and the comparisons include the wave elevation, the vertical motions of the ship and the vertical bending moment at midship.


Author(s):  
Sopheak Seng ◽  
Jørgen Juncher Jensen

A study of slamming events in conditional waves is presented in this paper. The ship is sailing in head sea and the motion is solved for under the assumption of rigid body motion constrained to two degree-of-freedom i.e. heave and pitch. Based on a time domain non-linear strip theory most probable conditional waves are generated to induce short term extreme responses of 4500 MNm sagging and hogging vertical bending moment (VBM) amidships on a modern 9,400-TEU post-Panamax container ship and 3000 MNm (sag) on a Panamax container ship. The results of the strip theory are compared to the results of free surface NS/VOF CFD simulations under the same wave conditions. In moderate seas and no occurrence of slamming the structural responses predicted by the methods agree well. When slamming occurs the strip theory overpredicts VBM but the peak values of VBM occurs at approximately the same time as predicted by the CFD method implying the possibility to use the more accurate CFD results to improve the estimation of slamming loads in the strip theory through a rational correction coefficient.


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