Model tests on the moored vessel with different moonpool shapes

Abstract

Moonpools are vertical wells in a floating body used onboard many types of vessels like cable-laying vessels and offshore support vessels. Moonpool gives passage to underwater activities for different types of ships as per their mission requirements. It is observed that inside a moonpool considerable relative motions may occur, depending on shape, depth of the moonpool and on the frequency range of the waves to which the ship is exposed. The vessel responses are entirely different in zero and non-zero Froude number. Former situation is paid attention in this study as the mission requirement of the platform is to be in the particular location for long period of operation. It is well known that there are two modes of responses depending on the shape of the moonpool viz., piston mode for square shape and sloshing mode for rectangular shapes with different aspect ratios of opening like 1:1.5 and 1:2 ratios. Circular shaped moonpool is also tested for measuring the responses. The vessel moored using heavy lines are modeled and tested in the wave basin. The moored lines are provided with pre-tension and the dynamic tensions on the lines are measured. The different modes of oscillations of water column are measured using wave gauge and the vessel response at a particular situation is determined. RAOs determined for various situations provide better insight to the designer. The experiments done in the wave basin may also be compared with a software package meant for handling moored floating bodies.