Motions of semi-submersibles

SEMISUB
The computer program SEMISUB is available at MARIN for the calculation of the motion behaviour of semi-submersibles at arbitrary water depths. The program is very useful for parameter studies at low cost.

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For the third contribution the damping coefficient of the small body is multiplied by the velocity of the water particles in the undisturbed wave. The calculation of the three force contributions requires knowledge of the particle motions in the undisturbed wave. If the fluid is ideal and irrotational the incoming wave can be represented by a velocity potential, which is a harmonic function of time and location. The undisturbed wave particle velocity is defined as the gradient of the velocity potential. It is assumed that the added mass and damping coefficients are known,
64.01 m

Computational approach
In the computation it is assumed that the structure of a semisubmersible consists of many elements which are small sectioned in relation to the wave length. This way: hydrodynamic properties of each element are not affected by the presence of other elements; wave exciting forces on each element can be approximated, based on the relative motion concept. For cylindrical bodies the excitation forces in waves with a length greater than five times the diameter can be approximated by summation of three contributions: Undisturbed wave pressure force according to Froude-Krylov; Added mass inertia force; Velocity dependent damping force. The Froude-Krylov force arises from the integration of the pressure due to the undisturbed incoming wave over the wetted surface of the structure or structural element. The pressure distribution is calculated from the undisturbed incoming wave potential using a linearised Bernouli equation. For small bodies the integration simplifies the product of the displacement and the acceleration in the undisturbed wave. The added mass inertia force follows from the added mass of the small body times the acceleration of the water particles in the undisturbed wave.

53.34 m

O1.00 m

Characteristics of the platform longitudinal metacentric height transverse metacentric height radius of gyration - pitch - yaw displacement volume

GML GMT roll i i i

10.58 m 6.58 m 24.77 m 23.86 m 28.52 m 12.700 m3

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V. 2006/04/06

because the small body components of the total structure generally have simple forms i.e. cylinders and spheres. In case the structure is composed of various bodies both wave and reactive forces are found by summation taking into account the appropriate phase information.

4.10 6

Za / a [Nm -1 ] =0
o

SEMISUB Model test

2.106

Input

structure's geometry; structure's displacement; structure's radii of inertia position of the centre of gravity linearized characteristics of the mooring system (if any); water depth.

0 4.10 6 = 30
o

2.106

Verification
The results of this method for structures in deep and shallow water provide acceptable predictions for a variety of semi-submersibles as long as the divergency from the already mentioned assumptions are not too extreme.

0 4.10 6 = 60
o

References

2.106

Hooft, J.P., 'Oscillatory wave forces on small bodies', International Shipbuilding Progress, Vol 17, No. 188, 1970. MARIN Publication No. 331. Hooft, J.P., 'A mathematical method of determining hydrodynamically induced forces on a semi-submersible', Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 1971 MARIN Publication No. 389.

0 4.10 6 = 90
o

2.106
For more information please contact the department Software Engineering and Support. T +31 317 493 237 E Support@marin.nl

0 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 [rad/s-1]