Hydrodynamic interaction between FLNG vessel and LNG carrier in side by side configuration

Abstract

The Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) is a new type of floating platform for the exploitation of stranded offshore oil/gas fields. The side by side configuration for the FLNG vessel and the LNG carrier arranged in parallel is one of the possible choices for the LNG offloading. During the offloading operations, the multiple floating bodies would have very complex responses due to their hydrodynamic interactions. In this study, numerical simulations of multiple floating bodies in close proximity in the side by side offloading configuration are carried out with the time domain coupled analysis code SIMO. Hydrodynamic interactions between the floating bodies and the mechanical coupling effects between the floating bodies and their connection systems are included in the coupled analysis model. To clarify the hydrodynamic effects of the two vessels, numerical simulations under the same environmental condition are also conducted without considering the hydrodynamic interactions, for comparison. It is shown that the hydrodynamic interactions play an important role in the low frequency motion responses of the two vessels, but have little effect on the wave frequency motion responses. In addition, the comparison results also show that the hydrodynamic interactions can affect the loads on the connection systems.