A Boussinesq-Type Model for Nonlinear Wave-Heaving Cylinder Interaction

In the present work, a Boussinesq-type numerical model is developed for the simulation of nonlinear wave-heaving cylinder interaction. The wave model is able to describe the propagation of fully dispersive and weakly nonlinear waves over any finite water depth. The wave-cylinder interaction is taken into account by solving simultaneously an elliptic equation that determines the pressure exerted by the fluid on the floating body. The heave motion for the partially immersed floating cylinder under the action of waves is obtained by solving numerically the body’s equation of motion in the z direction based on Newton’s law. The developed model is applied for the case of a fixed and a free-floating circular cylinder under the action of regular waves, as well as for a free-floating cylinder undergoing a forced motion in heave. Results (heave and surge exciting forces, heave motions, and wave elevation) are compared with those obtained using a frequency domain numerical model, which is based on the boundary integral equation method.

SUPERIOR SEAWORTHINESS OF A RESONANCE-FREE FAST OCEANGOING SWATH

The speed reduction, additional resistance or slamming caused by the large amplitude ship motions, should be completely restricted for a large fast oceangoing ship because of the strict time-punctuality and the high value of the cargo. A “Resonance-Free SWATH (RFS)”, which has negative restoring moments due to the extremely small water plane area, is introduced to minimize the motion responses. A motion control system using small fins is necessary for the RFS, which has no stability during high speed cruising. Theoretical estimations and experiments to search for the optimum values of PD control gains have been performed. Unsteady characteristics of fin-generated lift such as the time lag and the interaction among the fins and lower hulls have been measured and they are taken into account in the motion equations. Then, experiments using the RFS model with controlling fins have been carried out to validate the theoretical estimation for the motion responses of the RFS in waves. The theoretical and experimental results agree well with each other. The motion responses of the RFS in regular and irregular head waves are compared with those of other hull forms, such as a mono-hull, an ordinary SWATH and a trimaran. The clear advantage of the RFS regarding the seaworthiness has been found. In summary, the heave motion response of the RFS is reduced to 1/60 and the pitch motion becomes1/8, compared with those of the existing mono-hull ship.

Prediction of Ship Heave Motion Using Regularized BP Neural Network with Cross Entropy Error Function

Accurate prediction of ship’s heave motion can greatly enhance the safety of offshore operation. Due to its complexity and nonlinearity, however, ship’s heave motion prediction is a difficult task to be solved. In this paper, a new method for predicting ship’s heave motion is proposed based on an improved back propagation neural network (IBPNN). To overcome the gradient saturation phenomenon of traditional BPNN, the mean square error (MSE) loss function is replaced with a cross entropy (CE) loss function in IBPNN. Meanwhile, the weights of IBPNN is regularized by $$L_2$$ L 2 norm to enhance the generalization ability of traditional BPNN. Finally, conjugate gradient method is adopted to train IBPNN. The IBPNN is used to predict ship’s heave motion and the prediction results prove its effectiveness.

Numerical Analysis for Predicting the Performance of Wave Observation Buoy: Dynamic Analysis under Regular Wave

The prediction of the performance of a wave observation buoy is very important to acquire both in-situ security and good observation quality. In the present study, a numerical method was set up to analyze the dynamic interaction of a spherical buoy with its single point mooring line subject to regular wave conditions. The method was applied to the condition of an existing hydraulic experiment, producing results that are well compatible with experimental results within the limited accuracy of the available data. It was argued that some discrepancies between the numerical and experimental results might be due to the uncertainties of the wave exciting forces acting on the buoy and the experimental conditions of mooring line. The method was finally applied to demonstrate two practical issues related to in-situ wave height measurements; the effect of buoy size on resulting heave motion and the aspect of the numerical integration of heave acceleration to get wave profile.

Numerical Analysis of the Take-Off Performance of a Seaplane in Calm Water

Nowadays, with the escalating tensions in maritime dispute and the development of marine economy, there has been renewed interest in seaplanes for their special capacity of taking off and landing on water. Prediction of take-off performance, involving aerodynamic analysis and hydrodynamic analysis, is a main challenge in seaplane design, while the prediction methods have been little improved since the 1960s. This paper aims to investigate the attitude and resistance characteristics of a seaplane at different speeds during the take-off by numerically modeling the air-water flow field using RANS equations with VOF method. The trim and heave motion of seaplane in response to aerodynamic forces, hydrodynamic forces, hydrostatic forces, and propeller thrust was realized by solving rigid body dynamics equations and adopting dynamic overset mesh technique. The variations in heave, trim angle, and resistance characteristics during the takeoff were investigated, and their inherent relationships with the aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, and hydrostatic performance were revealed. Particular investigation on the hydrodynamic resistance indicates that the stagnation line located at the convex bow would contribute a considerable increase of pressure resistance at the first hump, and the trim angel of a seaplane should be operated in an optimum trim range, typical between 4–6 deg, to minimize the hydrodynamic resistance at the second hump. Additionally, the dynamic motion convergence study proves that the utilization of damping terms was an effective way to accelerate the convergence of the dynamic motion ending with a quasi-static state.

Dynamic Response and Flow Field Variation of a Floating Collar Under Extreme Wave Condition Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

An innovation in aquaculture fisheries around the world is in progress. More and more fish cages have been put into use to meet the needs of human for protein. However, the fish cage shows violent dynamic response and structural destruction while suffering to unpredictable marine environment. As the main component of the cage, floating collar plays an important role in providing buoyancy and ensuring the shape of cage. Thus, the dynamic response of the floating collar and the variation of flow field around the floating collar under extreme wave condition were studied in this paper. Referring to the previous literature, considering the motion form of the floating collar under waves, only the heave and pitch motions of the floating collar were obtained. Results obtained by Computational Fluid Dynamics method were compared with that obtained by potential flow theory. We found that the viscosity of the water has greater influence on heave motion of the floating collar rather than the pitch motion. At the same time, the flow field surrounding the floating collar was analyzed, and an overtopping phenomenon on both sides of the floating collar along the wave propagation direction was observed when the wave was passing through the floating collar.