CFD Simulations of Helical Strakes Reducing Vortex Induced Motion of a Semi-Submersible

This paper describes a set of VIM CFD simulations for a semi-submersible with and without helical strakes. The numerical investigations are conducted under low Reynolds number (Re) using naoe-FOAM-SJTU, a solver developed based on the open source framework OpenFOAM. The self-developed six degree-of-freedom (6DoF) motion module and mooring system module are applied to model motions of semi-submersible and the constraint of mooring lines, respectively. To carry out the calculations, turbulence closure has been chosen the Shear Stress Transport (SST) based Delay Detached eddy simulation (DDES), which uses the RANS model inside the boundary region and LES model outside the boundary area. This allows a realistic simulation within the boundary region where the vortex shedding is taking place, while not using unnecessary amounts of computational power. The Vortex Induced Motion (VIM) of semi-submersible with and without helical strakes was compared against each other for different reduced velocities (Ur). The flow characteristics of the semi-submersible platform is studied based on the characteristics of vortex shedding. For different current incident angles, time histories, trajectories and vorticity of the semi-submersible at different reduced velocities are reported. The result shows our CFD solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU is applicable and reliable to study VIM of semi-submersibles.