Investigation on the Natural Modes of A Semi-Closed Floating Tank

• Published in: China ocean engineering 2023-08, Vol.37 (4), p.580-587
• Main Authors: Wang, Guo, Kong, Yao-hua, Ge, Jun-bo, Ma, Yu-xiang, Sun, Lei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coastal Sciences; Computational fluid dynamics; Docks; Engineering; Floating; Fluid dynamics; Fluid- and Aerodynamics; Free surfaces; Harbors; Hydrodynamics; Incident waves; Liquid sloshing; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Military operations; Modes; Numerical and Computational Physics; Oceanography; Offshore Engineering; Oscillations; Ship motion; Simulation; Tanks
• ISSN: 0890-5487; 2191-8945
• DOI: 10.1007/s13344-023-0049-8

Vessels with semi-closed tanks (i.e., well docks) are widely applied in the military operation and maritime engineering. The water is bound by the semi-closed floating tank and forced by both the incident waves and ship’s motions. The free surface oscillations inside the flooded well dock is thus distinctive and very complicated. So far, the natural modes of semi-closed floating tanks have not yet been studied. This paper investigates the characteristics of natural modes of a floating semi-closed tank by combining a mode-resolving model based on mild-slope equations and a hydrodynamic model based on computational fluid dynamics. Results show that the first three natural periods (i.e., 74, 23.6, and 14 s) of the tank fall into the band of swell and infragravity waves and they could be triggered under certain circumstance. Multi-period free surface oscillations are observed inside the tank, including the longest natural period (i.e., 74 s), though the incident waves are monochromatic. A possible generation mechanism for the long-period mode is explained on the basis of liquid sloshing and harbor oscillations. Moreover, a long-period component with a period close to the natural mode of well dock is observed in the ship motions, which is generated by the interaction between the waves and ship.