Experimental study on moonpool resonance of offshore floating structure

Abstract

Offshore floating structures have so-called moonpool in the centre area for the purpose of drilling, installation of subsea structures, recovery of Remotely-Operated Vehicle (ROV) and divers. However, this vertical opening has an effect on the operating performance of floating offshore structure in the vicinity of moonpool resonance frequency; piston mode and sloshing mode. Experimental study based on model test was carried out. Moonpool resonance of floating offshore structure on fixed condition and motion free condition were investigated. And, the effect of cofferdam which is representative inner structure inside moonpool was examined. Model test results showed that Molin's theoretical formula can predict moonpool resonance on fixed condition quite accurately. However, motion free condition has higher resonance frequency when it is compared with that of motion fixed. The installation of cofferdam moves resonance frequency to higher region and also generates secondary resonance at lower frequency. Furthermore, it was found that cofferdam was the cause of generating waves in the longitudinal direction when the vessel was in beam sea.