Experimental study of wave induced loads and motions on FLNG in head and oblique sea waves

In the past decade, an innovative concept, the floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) system has been developed as a more effective solution over conventional pipelines for exploiting offshore natural gas resources. Understanding the hydrodynamic behaviour of such a mega structure in a real seaway is essential for determining its performance as well as evaluating the operabilities of on-board facilities and safe offloading.

In this paper, experimental study on the hydrodynamic performance of a generic FLNG hull form has been presented. The 1:100 scale model was tested in the Australian Maritime College model test basin for head sea and oblique sea conditions at zero forward speed. The wave induced loads and motions were measured by load cells and linear variable differential transducers (LVDTs) respectively. Experimental uncertainties on each of the measured variables were studied by taking partial differentiations on the uncertainty sources. The time history measurements were decomposed by Fourier series for obtaining frequency domain force/moment and motion transfer functions. The results were compared with numerical solutions from potential flow and Reynolds-Averaged NavierStokes (RANS) solvers. A good correlation between the experimental and numerical results has been demonstrated.