Current Drag From Tow and Wind Tunnel Tests of a FLNG Hull

Abstract

In this paper, the current drag of a barge-shaped floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel was studied. Three model tests were performed — a wind tunnel model test, a submerged double-body tow test and a surface tow test. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to gain further insights into the test results. During testing, the tow speed was kept low to avoid surface waves. When the current heading was around the beam current direction, the transverse drag coefficient measured from the wind tunnel test was significantly lower than those of the submerged tow and surface tow tests. The submerged tow and the surface tow provided similar drag coefficients. Results presented in this paper indicated that the difference between the wind tunnel test and the tow tests was caused by the wind tunnel boundary layer effect on the incoming wind profile and formation of a recirculation zone on the upstream side of the model, with a possible additional contribution from the wind tunnel floor constraint on the flow in the wake. Such effects are not accounted for with the simple corrections based on flow velocity reduction in the wind tunnel boundary layer. When conducting future wind tunnel model tests for barge-shaped FLNG hulls, one should consider the potential under-measurement of the transverse drag. In this paper, details of the FLNG model, test setup, test quality assurance (QA), measurement and CFD simulation results are presented, as well as discussions and recommendations for model testing.