Effects of Heave Plate on the Hydrodynamic Behaviors of Cell Spar Platform

This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of heave plates on the hydrodynamic performances of a cell spar platform. A variation of the cell spar concept, whose hard tank still consist of several cylinders (cells) with the same diameter and length, but the lower part is fitted with a truss section and several heave plates, is modeled and tested. As the effectiveness of heave plates is crucial to the heave performance, different types of heave plates are fitted to the truss structure, varying from the number and spacing to the form, such as perforated plates, to investigate various design aspects of the plates. Experimental results and numerical predictions for the responses of the spar to the wave loading, as well as loads and added mass and damping coefficients on the heave plates are presented.