• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2014

Heave plates have been widely used to enhance viscous damping and thus reduces the heave response of Spar platforms. Single heave plate attached to the keel of the Spar has been reported in literature (Tao and Cai 2004). The effect of double heave plates on hydrodynamic response in random waves has been investigated in this study. The influence of relative spacing $L_d/D_d$ ($D_d$-the diameter of the heave plate) on the hydrodynamic response in random waves has been simulated in wave basin experiments and numerical model. The experimental investigation has been carried out using 1:100 scale model of Spar with double heave plates in random waves for different relative spacing and varying wave period. The influence of relative spacing between the heave plates on the motion responses of Spar are evaluated and presented. Numerical investigation has been carried out to investigate effect of relative spacing on hydrodynamic characteristics such as heave added mass and hydrodynamic responses. The measured results were compared with those obtained from numerical simulation and found to be in good agreement. Experimental and numerical simulation shows that the damping coefficient and added mass does not increase for relative spacing of 0.4 and the effect greater than relative spacing on significant heave response is insignificant.

• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.188-208
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• 2013

The motion response of floating structures should be adequately low to permit the operation of rigid risers along with dry well heads. Though Spar platforms have low heave responses under lower sea state, could become unacceptable in near resonance region of wave periods. Hence the hydrodynamic response, heave in particular, must be examined to ensure that it is minimized. To reduce heave motions, external damping devices are introduced and one such effective damping device is heave plate. Addition of heave plate can provide additional viscous damping and additional added mass in the heave direction which influence the heave motion. The present study focuses on the influence of heave plate on the hydrodynamic responses of Classic Spar in regular waves. The experimental investigation has been carried out on a 1:100 scale model of Spar with single and double heave plates in regular waves. Numerical investigation has been carried out to derive the hydrodynamic responses using ANSYS AQWA. The experimental results were compared with those obtained from numerical simulation and found to be in good agreement. The influence of disk diameter ratio, wave steepness, pretension in the mooring line and relative spacing between the plates on the hydrodynamic responses of Spar are evaluated and presented.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.42 no.2 s.140
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• pp.124-128
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• 2005

This paper describes motion stability of a spar platform with and without a damping plate in regular waves. The heave and pitch motion equation is derived in terms of Mathieu equation and the stability diagram is obtained. It is shown that the spar platform with damping plate has smaller unstable region than that without damping plate in the stability diagram. Model tests are carried out to verify the mathematical analysis. Under the condition that the pitch natural period is approximately double the heave natural period and the heave motion is amplified at heave resonance, unstable pitch motions are evoked. However the unstable motion is stabilized in cases of spar platform with damping plate. Therefore the damping plate is an effective device to stabilize the motion of spar platform.