The Function of Computer Utilization in Educating and Researching Ocean Engineering Problems

Nowadays, the computational capability and graphical power based on PCs increase very rapidly every year. As a result, the complicated engineering or scientific problems that could have only been handled by supercomputers a couple of decades ago can now be routinely run on PCs. Besides, the PCs can be assembled in parallel to increase its computational capability theoretically without limitation. The Web-based interface and communication tools are also being enhanced very rapidly and the real-time distance learning (E-Learning) and project cooperation on web get increasing attention. Using the-state-of-the-art computational method, a number of complicated and computationally intensive problems are being solved by PCs. The results can be well demonstrated on screen by graphics and animation tools. Those examples include the simulations of fully nonlinear waves, their interactions with floating bodies, global-motion analysis of multi-unit floating production system including complicated mooring lines and risers. Several examples will be presented in this regard. Also, Web and java-applet based educational tools have been developed at Texas A&M University for better understanding of waves and wave-body interactions. The background and examples of such Web-based educational tools published in Kim et al. (2003) are briefly introduced here.