A study on hydroelastic response of box-type very large floating structures

The application of very large floating structure (VLFS) to the utilization of ocean space and exploitation of ocean resources has become one of the is sues of great interest in international ocean engineering field. Owing to t he advantage of simplicity in structure and low cost of construction and ma intenance, box-type VLFS can be used in the calm water area near the coast as the structure configuration of floating airport. In this paper, a 3D lin ear hydroelastic theory is used to study the dynamic response of box-type V LFS in sinusoidal regular waves. A beam model and a 3D FEM model are respec tively employed to describe the dynamic characteristics of the box-type Str ucture in vacuum. A hydrodynamic model (3D potential theory of flexible bod y) is applied to investigate the effect of different dry models on the hydr oelastic response of box-type structure. Based on the calculation of hydroe lastic response in regular waves, the rigid body motion displacement, flexi ble deflection, and the short term and long term wave induced bending momen ts are also predicted.