Middle-field formulation for the computation of wave-drift loads

Abstract

New formulations of second-order wave loads contributed by a first-order wave field are developed by applying two variants of Stokes’s theorem and Gauss’s theorem to a formulation consisting of direct pressure integrations on a body’s hull which is called the near-field formulation. In addition to this direct formulation and the formulation derived from the momentum theorem called the far-field formulation, for the computation of drift (surge/sway) forces in horizontal directions and drift (yaw) moment around the vertical axis, one of new formulations is defined on the control surfaces surrounding the body and called the middle-field formulation. After a brief summary of both pressure-integration (near-field) and momentum (far-field) formulations, the development of the middle-field formulation involving control surfaces is described and complemented in detail in the appendices. The application of the new formulation shows that the near-field and far-field formulations are mathematically equivalent for wall-sided, as well as non-wall-sided bodies and under the condition that the mean yaw moments are expressed with respect to a space-fixed reference point. It is shown that the middle-field formulation is as robust as the far-field formulation and as general as the near-field formulation of second-order loads on a single body as well as on multiple bodies. Furthermore, the extension to the computation of a second-order oscillatory load, which is so far accessed only by the near-field formulation, is envisioned.