A 2D Experimental and Numerical Study of Moonpools With Recess

Abstract

Moonpool resonance is investigated in a two-dimensional setting in terms of regular, forced heave motions of a model with moonpool with different rectangular-shaped recess configurations. A recess is a reduced draft zone in the moonpool. Dedicated experiments were carried out. The model consisted of two boxes of 40 cm width each, with a distance of 20 cm between them. Recess configurations varying between 5 cm to 10 cm in length and 5 cm in height were tested. Different drafts were also tested. The free-surface elevation inside the moonpool was measured at eight locations. A large number of forcing periods, and five forcing amplitudes were tested. A time-domain Boundary Element Method (BEM) code based on linear potential flow theory was implemented to investigate the resonance periods, mode shapes as well as the moonpool response as predicted by (linear) potential flow theory. Dominant physical effects were discussed, in particular damping due to flow separation from the sharp corners of the moonpool inlet and recess. The effect of the recess on the piston-mode behavior is discussed. BEM simulations where the effect of flow separation is empirically modelled were also conducted. The non-dimensional moonpool response suggests strong viscous damping at piston-mode resonance. The viscous BEM simulations demonstrate improvement over inviscid BEM, although further improvement of the method is needed. The piston mode shapes are clearly different from the near flat free-surface elevation for a moonpool without recess, consistent with recently published theory.