Analysis of Hydrodynamic Resonant Effects in Side-by-Side Configuration

Seakeeping behavior of a multibody system in side-by-side configuration in head sea condition is discussed in this paper. The system, which can be assimilated to a FLNG and LNG carrier during an offloading operation is composed of a barge and a prismatic geosim with two gap values. Seakeeping tests in regular waves have been performed in the model basin of CEHINAV-Technical University of Madrid (UPM). The movements for the geosim were restricted to the surge, heave and pitch motions (on the vertical plane), whereas the barge was kept fixed. In this way the gap remained constant during the tests. Numerical modeling has been undertaken using WAMIT and an in-house time-domain Rankine Panel Method (TDRPM). Response amplitude operators in terms of movements and wave amplitude in the gap obtained from seakeeping test and numerical models are documented in the paper, illustrating the limitation of the numerical codes regarding the modeling of this hydrodynamic problem. Numerical results indicate a resonant behavior of the waves in the gap for a range of frequencies, with amplitudes much higher than those observed during the tests. Due to the small distances considered in the experiments, these resonant waves are related to longitudinal wave modes in the gap. In order to overcome this problem, a procedure for introducing an external damping factor that attenuates the wave amplitude along the gap in the time-domain RPM is evaluated based on the experimental data.