Dynamic Simulation of Offloading Operation Considering Wave Interaction Between Vessels

Abstract

Almost all simulators of offshore systems evaluate wave forces using frequency-domain potential analysis. A wave analysis software is previously executed, considering several incidence angles and generating a data base which is used by the simulator. This database contains drift coefficients, RAOs and exciting forces for all incidences. During the simulation, the simulator only performs queries depending on the actual heading of the vessel related to waves. The simulation of multi-body systems cannot be performed in the same way, since the relative positions of the bodies change during simulation time, altering the influence of each ship on the overall wave field and its effect on the others. So, for each time step a new frequency-domain analysis should be performed, considering the vessel positions at that instant and updating the database used by the simulator. However, the computational effort necessary to perform such simulation turns this approach prohibitive for conventional computers and workstations. The wave forces are evaluated only in a predefined configuration of the vessels, or considering the vessels independently. Such approaches neglect all interactions and the complex dynamics behavior that results from it. The University of Sa˜o Paulo has been developing since 2001, the Numerical Offshore Tank (NOT), a 120 processor cluster with the ability to perform detailed simulations considering bodies and lines dynamics very efficiently. In order to simulate offloading operations accurately, the commercial wave analysis software WAMIT was integrated to the NOT simulation code, allowing the “update” of wave coefficients data base every time the vessels configuration changes significantly. WAMIT code was adapted to perform parallel processing, greatly reducing the execution time and allowing the simulations to be performed in approximately 7 hours for the analysis of a 3-hour operation. Without WAMIT parallelization, this time would increase by a factor approximately equal to the number of wave frequencies considered in the simulation. This paper discusses the results obtained by the simulations of offloading operations in the presence of waves, detailing the effects that arise when the bodies interaction is taken into account. Effects are sensed in the equilibrium position, in the first order vertical motions and low-frequency oscillation.