0

### Research Papers: Ocean Engineering

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051101-051101-10. doi:10.1115/1.4040050.

Green water occurs when an incoming wave exceeds the freeboard and propagates onto the deck of naval/offshore structures, such as floating production storage and offloading units and platforms. This water can affect the integrity of facilities and equipment that are installed on the deck, compromise the safety of the crew, and affect the dynamic stability of the structure. Traditionally, wave trains have been used to study the green water problem, which is a good approach to analyzing consecutive green water events. However, to carry out systematic studies that allow local details to be identified for different types of green water, an alternative method is to study isolated events generated by a single incoming wave. The purpose of this paper was to experimentally investigate the generation of different types of isolated green water events using the wet dam-break (DB) approach as an alternative to generating the incoming wave. Tests were carried out in a rectangular tank with a fixed internal structure. Different freeboard conditions were tested for two aspect ratios of the wet DB ($h0/h1=0.40$ and 0.6). Conventional wave probes were used to measure the water levels in the tank, and a high-speed camera was set to capture details of the generated green water events. The results demonstrated the ability of this approach to represent different types of green water, similar to those obtained with unbroken regular waves in barge-shaped fixed structures, including DB, plunging-dam-break (PDB) and hammer-fist (HF).

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: Offshore Technology

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051301-051301-9. doi:10.1115/1.4039866.

A series of model tests of a caisson in wet towing were conducted in a towing tank to assess the stability and effective power requirement in calm water and head sea conditions. The scale ratio of the model was 1/30, and the model-length-based Froude number in the tests ranged from 0.061 to 0.122, which is equivalent to 2 and 4 knots in the full scale, respectively. During the towing of the model, tension on the towline and six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) motion of the model were measured. Under the calm water condition, the effects of towing speed, draft, and initial trim variation on the towing stability and effective power were investigated. Initial trim improved stability and reduced required towing power. In head seas, effective power and towing stability were changed with the wavelength. It increased as the wavelength became longer, but the added resistance in long waves also stabilized the model with reduced yaw motion.

Topics: Stability , Caissons , Waves , Tension , Water , Seas , Yaw
Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: Polar and Arctic Engineering

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051501-051501-12. doi:10.1115/1.4039261.

Offshore structures constructed in waters where ice cover is prevalent for several months a year are subjected to ice loading. Some of these structures are conical or sloped-faced in shape, where flexural failure becomes the dominant mode of failure for the ice sheet. The flexural failure mode reduces the magnitude of ice-structure interaction loads in comparison to other modes of failure. Various researchers have devised flexural failure models for ice-conical structure interactions. Each model shares the same principle of the ice sheet being modeled as a beam on an elastic foundation, but each model has different limitations in precisely simulating the interaction. Some models do not incorporate the ice rubble pile, while other models make oversimplified assumptions for three-dimensional behavior. The proposed three-dimensional (3D) model aims to reduce some of these limitations with the following features: (1) modeling the geometry of the ice rubble pile around the conical pier using the results of small-scale tests, (2) modeling the loads exerted by the ice rubble pile on the conical structure and ice sheet with a rigorous method of slices, (3) adding driving forces in keeping the rubble pile intact and in upward motion during the interaction, (4) accounting for eccentric offsetting moments at the ice-structure contacts, and (5) modeling the flexural behavior of the ice sheet subject to ice rubble loads using finite element method. The proposed model is used to analyze the interaction events recorded at the conical piers of the Confederation Bridge over a period of 11 years.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: Structures and Safety Reliability

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051601-051601-7. doi:10.1115/1.4039718.

In this paper, the first-order reliability method (FORM) found in connection with structural reliability analysis is first used in an inverse manner to efficiently obtain an approximate solution of the full long-term extreme response of marine structures. A new method is then proposed where the second-order reliability method (SORM) is used to improve the accuracy of the approximation, resulting in an inverse SORM (ISORM) approach. This method is compared with exact results obtained using full numerical integration. The new method is seen to achieve significantly improved accuracy, yet keep the number of required short-term response analyses within acceptable levels.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: Piper and Riser Technology

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051701-051701-8. doi:10.1115/1.4039524.

This paper deals with the effect of termination restraint due to end fitting on the stress evaluation of tensile armors in unbonded flexible pipes under axial tension. The problem is characterized by one single armoring tendon helically wound on a cylindrical supporting surface subjected to traction. The deviation from the initial helical angle is taken to describe the armor wire path as the pipe is stretched. The integral of this angle change gives the lateral displacement of the wire, which is determined by minimizing the energy functional that consists of the strain energy due to axial strain, local bending and torsion, and the energy dissipated by friction, leading to a variational problem with a variable endpoint. The governing differential equation of the wire lateral displacement, together with the supplementary condition, is derived using the variational method and solved analytically. The developed model is verified with a finite element (FE) simulation. Comparisons between the model predictions and the FE results in terms of the change in helical angle and transverse bending stress show good correlations. The verified model is then applied to study the effects of imposed tension and friction coefficient on the maximum bending stress. The results show that the response to tension is linear, and friction could significantly increase the stress at the end fitting compared with the frictionless case.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051702-051702-8. doi:10.1115/1.4039923.

Flexible pipes are structures composed by many layers that vary in composition and shapes. The structural behavior of each layer is defined by the role it must play. The construction of flexible pipes is such that the layers are unbounded, with relative movement between them. Even though this characteristic is what enables its high bending compliant behavior, if the displacements involved are small, a bonded analysis is interesting to grasp the general characteristics of the problem. The bonded hypothesis means that there is no movement relative between layers, which is fine for a small displacement analysis. It also creates a lower bound for the movement, since when considering increasingly friction coefficient values, it tends to the bonded situation. The main advantage of such hypothesis is that the system becomes linear, leading to fast solving problems (when compared to full frictional analysis) and giving insights to the pipe behavior. The authors have previously developed a finite element based one called macroelements. This model enables a fast-solving problem with less memory consumption when compared to multipurpose software. The reason behind it is the inclusion of physical characteristics of the problem, enabling the reduction in both number of elements and memory used and, since there are less elements and degrees-of-freedom, faster solved problems. In this paper, the advantages of such model are shown by using examples that are representative of a simplified, although realistic, flexible pipe. Comparisons between the macroelement model and commercial software are made to show its capabilities.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051703-051703-10. doi:10.1115/1.4039795.

The layers of unbounded flexible pipes have relative movement, enhancing its capabilities to handle curvatures and moment loads. In a simplified approach, those pipes can be described using bonded elements; but to really capture this behavior, a frictional contact is utterly needed. In general, dealing with contact problems in computational mechanics is complicated, since it involves the constant evaluation of its status and can lead to convergence problems or simulation failure, due to intrinsically problematic and inefficient contact models or due to contact models that are insufficient to capture the desired details. The macroelement formulation, which was created to deal with flexible pipes in a simplified way, needed a frictional contact element to enhance the quality of results and closeness to real behavior. The major drawback for developing such element is the different nature of the nodal displacements descriptions. The first approach possible is the simplest contact model: it involves only the nodes in each contacting elements. The gap information and distances are evaluated using exclusively the nodal information. This kind of model provides good results with minimum computational effort, especially when considering small displacements. This paper proposes such element: a node-to-node contact formulation for macroelements. It considers that the nodal displacements of both nodes are in cylindrical coordinates with one of them using Fourier series to describe the displacements. To show model effectiveness, a case study with a cylinder using Fourier series and multiple helical elements connected with the contact element is done and shows great results.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051704-051704-10. doi:10.1115/1.4040049.

Dynamic position (DP) control and pipeline dynamics are the two main parts of the deepwater S-lay simulation model. In this study, a fully coupled analysis tool for deepwater S-lay deployment by dynamically positioned vessels is developed. The method integrates the major aspects related to numerical simulation, including coupled pipeline motion and roller contact forces. The roller–pipe interaction is incorporated in the S-lay pipeline model using a contact search method based on a lumped-mass (LM) formulation in global coordinates. A proportional-integration-differentiation (PID) controller and a Kalman filter are applied in the vessel motion equation to calculate the thrust allocation of the DP system in time domain. Numerical simulation results showed that the dynamic effects add a significant contribution to the tension, but have little influence on the maximum pipe stress and strain. The dynamic response of the coupled S-lay and DP pipeline deployment system increases the demand on the tensioner load carrying capability as well as the maximum DP thruster power.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051705-051705-13. doi:10.1115/1.4040097.

This paper proposes a dynamic model for steel catenary risers (SCRs) based on the principle of virtual work, where the equations of motion are obtained by combining Euler's equation and initial conditions. The motion equations of the floating platform are transformed and combined with those of the riser to establish the complete model. Vertical structure and dispersion of the internal wave are calculated to obtain the internal wave load and combined with the floating platform motion. The whole motion equation of the riser was solved by the Newmark β method. A proprietary matlab algorithm was written to analyze the influence of different factors on the dynamic response of the riser in an internal wave field. Top tension had a significant effect on the riser dynamic characteristics and response. Floating platform movement determines the vibration frequency of the riser, considering the internal wave as an external force, to promote the whole movement of the riser. The maximum riser displacement was mainly affected by the internal wave, where the top corner was mainly from the floating platform movement.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: CFD and VIV

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051801-051801-11. doi:10.1115/1.4039948.

This work focuses on the study of the flow around a rigid cylinder with both particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. PIV measurements of the flow field downstream of the cylinder are first presented. The boundary conditions for CFD simulations are measured in the PIV experiment. Then the PIV flow is compared with both Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) two-dimensional (2D) and large eddy simulation (LES) three-dimensional (3D) simulations performed with ANSYS fluent. The velocity vector fields and time histories of velocity are analyzed. In addition, the time-averaged velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses are analyzed. It is found that, in general, LES (3D) gives a better prediction of flow characteristics than RANS (2D).

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster

### Research Papers: Ocean Renewable Energy

J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051901-051901-7. doi:10.1115/1.4039523.

Pile foundation design is conventionally conducted using a process of trial and error, where the dimensions of a pile are estimated and the performance is computed and compared with design criteria. The dimensions are varied and the process is repeated in order to converge to a safe and economical design. In this paper, this time-consuming and labor intensive process is replaced with an automated approach using the example case of an offshore monopile supporting a wind turbine. The optimum length and diameter of the monopile are determined with the aim of minimizing the pile weight while satisfying both serviceability and ultimate limit state criteria. The approach handles general soil and loading conditions and includes an ability to incorporate cyclic loading.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051902-051902-10. doi:10.1115/1.4039717.
FREE TO VIEW

For large-scale offshore wind turbine rotating blades (NREL 5MW), the theoretical model of vibration due to fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is established, and the basic equations for modal analysis are given. Based on ANSYS workbench platform, the blade modal characteristics at different rotating speeds are analyzed, and further research on dynamic stability is carried out. The results indicate that the FSI and the blade rotation have a great influence on modal frequencies, which increase with the rotating speed of the blade under FSI. When the frequency of the periodic wind speed is close to the first-order natural frequency of the blade, both the maximum flapping displacement and the maximum von Mises stress increase with time, and the vibration divergence appears. At the safe tower clearance of 4.50 m, the critical value of the blade maximum von Mises stress shows a linear upward trend with the increase of the elasticity modulus, which provides technical references for optimization design and safe operation of wind turbine blades.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster
J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng. 2018;140(5):051903-051903-13. doi:10.1115/1.4040048.

The nonlinear coupling effect between degree-of-freedom (DOFs) and the influence of vortex-induced loads on the motion of SPAR-type floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) are studied based on an aero-hydro-vortex-mooring coupled model. Both the first- and second-order wave loads are calculated based on the three-dimensional (3D) potential theory. The aerodynamic loads on the rotor are acquired with the blade element momentum (BEM) theory. The vortex-induced loads are simulated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The mooring forces are solved by the catenary theory and the nonlinear stiffness provided by the SPAR buoy is also considered. The coupled model is set up and a numerical code is developed for calculating the dynamic response of a Hywind SPAR-type FOWT under the combined sea states of wind, wave, and current. It shows that the amplitudes of sway and roll are dominated by lift loads induced by vortex shedding, and the oscillations in roll reach the same level of pitch in some scenarios. The mean value of surge is changed under the drag loads, but the mean position in pitch, as well as the oscillations in surge and pitch, is little affected by the current. Due to the coupling effects, the heave motion is also influenced by vortex-induced forces. When vortex-shedding frequency is close to the natural frequency in roll, the motions are increased. Due to nonlinear stiffness, super-harmonic response occurs in heave, which may lead to internal resonance.

Commentary by Dr. Valentin Fuster