DNV SOFTWARE A LEADING PROVIDER OF SOFTWARE FOR RISK

WHITEPAPER

Introduction
Thispaperdescribestheroleofalinearfrequencydomainanalysisforoffshorestructures,andsomeof
theimportantaspectsthatmustbeaddressedwhendoingsuchananalysis.Thetwomainchallengesin
thisanalysis,inadditiontocreatingagoodqualitypanelmodel,are:
Howtoincludetheviscouseffects
Howtohandlethemooringsystem
Bothofthesewillbediscussedinsomedetail.Therequirementstothepanelmodelshouldbequitewell
knownsothatwillnotbedescribed.
General
ForoffshorestructuresbothFLS(FatigueLimitState)andULS(UltimateLimitState)analysesare
normallycarriedout.Theoverallanalysisprocessisshowninfigure1.
Themainpurposeofthehydrodynamicanalysiswillinmanycasesbetocomputetheloadstobe
appliedinafollowingstructuralanalysis.Theseloadsaretypically:
Inertialoadduetotheaccelerationofthevessel
Pressureloadontheouterhullandoncompartmentwallsifthereisaninternalfluid
Lineloadsonbeamelementsandloadsfromrisersandmooringlines
Inaddition,globalloadsareoftencomputed.Alsothemotionsmaybeofsignificantinterestontheir
own,inparticularforcomputingrelativemotion/airgap.
Title: Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures
AUTHOR: Torgeir Kirkhorn Vada, DNV Software
DATE: April 2013
WWW.DNVSOFTWARE.COM Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures | WHITE PAPER | 2

Linear frequency domain analysis

Thisisbyfarthemostcommontypeofanalysisforoffshorestructures.Itisanintegralpartofa
stochasticfatigueanalysis,anditisalsothestartingpointforaULSanalysis.
Inthefollowinganalysisweuseasemisubmersibleasexample,seefigure2.Thelengthofthepontoons
is80.3m,thetotalwidthofthestructureis70.8mandthedraftis20.5m.Thetotalmassis24500tons.

Figure1.OverviewofFLSandULSanalysis(from[1]).Weseethatthehydrodynamicanalysisisacore
partofbothULSandFLSanalysis.
WWW.DNVSOFTWARE.COM Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures | WHITE PAPER | 3

Figure2.Thesemisubmersibleusedintheanalysisexample.Thecolourchangeonthelegsshowsthe
locationofthemeanfreesurface.

Inclusion of the viscous effects
ThemosttypicalmethodforincludingviscouseffectsinsuchananalysisistousetheMorisonequation
fortheslenderstructuralmembers.Onthesemisubmersibleshowninfigure2theloadsonthetwo
bracesarecomputedentirelybytheMorisonequation.Forthelegsandpontoonsthebuoyancyand
addedmassiscomputedfromthepanelmodel,butbymodellingthelegsandpontoonsbyabeam
modelalsoitispossibletoincludetheviscousdragterm.Itismostimportanttodothisforthepontoon
sincethewavedampinginheave,andtosomeextentalsopitchandroll,isverysmall.Hencetheviscous
dragonthepontoonswillbethemostimportantdampingcontributionforthesemodes.
InHydroD/Wadamthiscanbedonebydefiningadualmodel,inwhichcasethelegsandpontoonsare
modelledbybothabeam(Morison)modelandapanelmodel.Thedualmodelisthendefinedbygiving
arelationbetweenthepanelsandthebeamelements.WhensuchamodelisusedWadamwillcompute
thebuoyancyandaddedmassfromthepanelmodelandonlyincludethedragtermfromtheMorison
model.
AnalternativetothisistodefinetheMorisonmodelandpanelmodelbytwodifferentmodels.Thenthe
diameterofthebeams(D)canbemadeverysmallandthedragcoefficient(C
d
)verybig,suchthatthe
productC
d
*Dgetsthecorrectvalue.Thiskeepsthecorrectvalueofthedragtermwhileatthesame
timeremovingtheaddedmassandbuoyancyfromtheMorisonmodel.
WWW.DNVSOFTWARE.COM Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures | WHITE PAPER | 4

Figure3.Heave(left)androll(right)forthesemisubmersible.Wavedirectionis90.Pink:Panelmodel
only.Blue:Dualmodel.Red:Panelmodelwithadditionaldamping.
Sincethedragtermisanonlinearterm,ithastobelinearisedbysomemethodtofitintoalinear
analysis.ThemostcommonlinearisationmethodisStochasticlinearisation,wherethedragterminthe
Morisonequationcanbewrittenas:
1
2
BC
d
|u
cI
|u
cI
= BC
d
_
2
n
o
cI
u
cI

where
rel
isthestandarddeviationoftherelativevelocityinagivenseastate.Sincethisvalueisnot
possibletocomputeuntilthevelocityofthestructureisknownthismethodresultsinaniterative
process.InWadamthisiterationishandledbythesolversotheuserjustneedtoprovidethe
convergencecriteria.

Figure4.Heaveexcitationforce(left)androllexcitationmoment(right)forthesemisubmersible.
Wavedirectionis90.Blue:Dualmodel.Red:Panelmodel.
Sincetherelativevelocityisthecombinationofthevelocityofthestructureandthefluidparticle
velocitythedragtermgivesrisetobothadampingtermandanexcitationforce.Theeffectofthisis
WWW.DNVSOFTWARE.COM Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures | WHITE PAPER | 5

showninfigures3and4.Forthedualmodelstochasticlinearisationisused.Theseastateisgivenbya
Bretschneider(PM)spectrumwithsignificantwaveheightof15mandpeakperiodof21s.Weseethat
theresonancepeakisreducedduetotheviscousdamping,butalsothatthecancellationperiodhas
disappearedduetothepresenceoftheexcitationforcefromtheMorisondragterm.
Asimplerwayofincludingviscousdampingisjusttoincludeitasanadditionaldampingmatrix.The
resultofthisisshowninfigure3.Thedampinglevelintheadditionaldampingmatrixisdefinedsuch
thatitattheresonancewillgiveexactlythesamedampingasthedualmodelwithstochastic
linearisation.Sincethismethoddoesnotintroduceanyadditionalexcitationforcethecancellationpoint
isnotaffected.Theresponseatresonanceisalsolowerthanforthedualmodelsincetheexcitation
forceissmaller.

Modelling the mooring system
InHydroD/Wadamthemooringsystemcanbemodelledintwoalternativeways:
Usinganchorelements
Givinganadditionalmassandrestoringmatrix
Theanchorelementsareasetoflinearspringswithagivenpretension.Thestiffnessofthespringsis
specifiedinboththehorizontalandverticaldirection.Thehorizontaldirectionisdefinedbythe
directionofthemooringline.
Theaccumulatedrestoringduetoallthemooringlinescanalternativelybegivenbyarestoringmatrix.
Theaccumulatedpretensionscanalternativelybegivenbyamassmatrix.
Therearesomeprosandconsrelatedtobothwaysofmodellingthemooringsystem.
Themostimportantbenefitofusingtheanchorelementsisthattheforcesareactingatawelldefined
pointonthestructure(thefairleadandwindlasspoint).Thustheloadingfromthemooringsystemcan
becarriedovertothestructuralanalysisasnodalloads.Whenthisforceismodelledbyarestoring
matrixyougetthecorrectforceonthestructure,butthereisnoinformationabouthowitisdistributed
sothereisnowelldefinedwaytorepresentitasaloadonthestructuralmodel.
Themostimportantbenefitoftheadditionalmatrixapproachisthatthepretensionisrepresentedasa
mass,whichiswhatitactuallyis,sinceitisduetotheweightofthemooringlines.Thismeansthatthe
naturalperiodscomputedfromtheequationsofmotionwillbemorecorrect.
Conclusions
Iftheresonancefrequencyinheaveisinafrequencyrangewherethereissignificantwaveenergy,
accuratetreatmentofthedampingisimportant.ThebestwaytodothisistouseaMorisonmodel.If
theresonancefrequencyisinalessimportantfrequencyrangeasimplertreatmentofthedamping
usingadampingmatrixcanbesufficient.
WWW.DNVSOFTWARE.COM Hydrodynamic analysis of offshore structures | WHITE PAPER | 6

Formodellingofthemooringsystemtheprosandconsofthetwoalternativemethodsmustbe
evaluatedineachcase.IfloadtransfertoaFEManalysisiscentraltotheanalysistheanchorelements
shouldbeused,butitcanbeagoodideatodoanadditionalcheckonhowmuchthenaturalfrequency
ischangedwhenthenetweightofthemooringlinesisreplacedbyapretensionforce.
About the author
TorgeirKirkhornVadaholdsaPhDdegreeinHydrodynamicsfromtheUniversityofOslo.Hehasbeen
workinginDNVsince1985andaspartofDNVSoftwaresince1997.Hismainareaofresponsibilityisthe
hydrodynamicssoftwareinSesam.
References
1. Lindemark, T., Kamsvg, F. & Valsgrd, S., Fatigue analysis of gas carriers, RINA conf. on
Design and Operation of Gas Carriers, London UK, 2004