Study on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics for Heave Plate Structure of Truss Spar

The hydrodynamic characteristics of heave plates are studied in this paper. Firstly, different motion amplitudes and plate spacing influencing hydrodynamic coefficients are considered. Secondly, heave plates with different thicknesses are calculated, the case of edges with inclined form for heave plate is also taken into account. Numerical simulations are made for the plate forced oscillation, employing the dynamic mesh method and UDF (User defined functions). The values of Cm and Cd for heave plate are calculated. It is found that, in a certain amplitude range, Cm increases with increasing of amplitudes, Cd decreases with increasing of amplitudes. The values of Cm and Cd increase with increasing of plate spacing. Furthermore with the same effective thickness, the hydrodynamic performance of heave plate with inclined form is improved greatly.