Hydroelastic Response of VLFS on Uneven Sea Bottom

Hydroelastic response of VLFS under inhomogeneous sea environment is an important issue in offshore engineering applications. The most typical inhomogeneous ocean environment in offshore engineering is the inhomogeneity caused by the uneven sea bottom. In this paper, the hydroelastic response of VLFS due to the variation of water depth is studied experimentally and numerically. Experiments were performed in the state key laboratory of ocean engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Different shoals were set on the bottom of the wave basin to simulate the uneven sea bottom. The cases tested in the Lab were studied by extending the traditional hydroelastic method in constant water depth to the varied water depth. Comparisons between the experimental measurements and the numerical results show good agreement. It is found that the inhomogeneous ocean environment has some effect on the hydroelastic response of VLFS.