VALIDATION OF A NEW HYDROELASTIC CODE FOR FLEXIBLE FLOATING STRUCTURES MOORED IN WAVES

Natural periods of elastic modes can be in the range of the wave spectrum for relatively long and slender floating bodies. As a result elastic body deformations such as vertical bending, horizontal bending and torsion may be significant and need to be taken into account in the hydrodynamic analysis of very large floating structures. The behavior of flexible floating bodies in waves has been studied at Delft University of Technology. For this purpose the existing linear three dimensional diffraction code DELFRAC was modified to take into account the fluid-structure interaction of deformable bodies at zero forward speed in waves. This paper focuses on the validation of the new hydroelastic code for flexible floating structures moored in waves. Numerical results are validated by model experiments of a flexible barge in waves from different headings. In addition, the obtained results are compared with results from other existing hydroelastic programs. In general it is shown that numerical results show good agreement with experimental values.