Hydrodynamic Analysis of Floating Docks With Alternative Geometries for Floating Wind Turbine Installation

Abstract

Installation of spar floating wind turbine offshore is a challenging task. Usually, the spar platform is upended first, and mating of the tower assembly with the spar platform is assisted by a crane vessel. Due to motions of the spar platforms and of the crane vessel, such an operation often takes place in shielded areas with relatively small wave heights and wind speed. The floating dock concept has been recently proposed to expand the weather window for installing spar floating wind turbines. The idea is to use a cylindrical dock to shield the spar platform from wave excitations. However, because of the trapped internal fluid, the cylindrical geometry is subjected to piston mode and sloshing mode excitations, and these modes may fall in the wave periods and cause unfavourable response characteristics. This paper investigates the influence of floating dock geometries on the piston and sloshing modes. We assumed a homogeneous mass distribution of the floating dock and changed the geometry of the cylindrical dock by expanding or reducing the neck area. Then, hydrodynamic analysis of the alternative geometries was carried out using a potential flow code. By comparing the system’s piston modes and sloshing modes, we identified the trend of variation and found that an expanded neck area can lead to increased sloshing period and piston mode. This indicates a potential improvement of the dock responses in operating sea states. The results of this analysis can be used in the shape design optimisation in a future work.