Direct time-domain simulation of floating structures has advantages: it can calculate wave pressure fields and forces directly;
and it is useful for coupled analysis of floating structures with a mooring system. A time-domain boundary integral equation
method is presented to simulate three-dimensional water wave radiation problems. A stable form of the integration free-surface
boundary condition (IFBC) is used to update velocity potentials on the free surface. A multi-transmitting formula (MTF) method
with an artificial speed is introduced to the artificial radiation boundary (ARB). The method was applied to simulate a semi-spherical
liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and a semi-submersible undergoing specified harmonic motion. Numerical parameters such
as the form of the ARB, and the time and space discretization related to this method are discussed. It was found that a good
agreement can be obtained when artificial speed is between 0.6 and 1.6 times the phase velocity of water waves in the MTF
method. A simulation can be done for a long period of time by this method without problems of instability, and the method
is also accurate and computationally efficient.
Keywords time domain simulation - floating body - IFBC - MTF - ARB
CLC number O35
Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.10572041, 50779008 and the 111 Project.
XU Gang was born in 1981. He is presently a PhD candidate for fluid mechanics at Harbin Engineering University. He has published
3 papers in Chinese or in English. He is engaged in the research work on moving particle semi-implicit method and nonlinear
wave-body interactions based on three-dimensional time-domain method.