Modal Test for Response Amplitude Operator of a Deepwater Semi-Submersible Platform

Abstract

Semi-submersible plays an important role in ocean oil and gas exploitation. This paper carried out a model test for motion response of a deepwater semi-submersible in regular waves with the model oriented in the head, beam and quartering directions. The results were presented as Response Amplitude Operators (RAO) of the platform. Dynamic responses measured in the model test were compared with the numerical results obtained by the software HYDROSTAR. Results show that the numerical results generally tally well with the experimental measurements. This illustrates the accuracy of the numerical results, and proves that the numerical results are reliable to be the reference of judging performance of the platform.