Interaction of Waves With a Steady Intake/Discharge Flow Emanating From a 3D Body

Abstract

It has been proposed that the warm surface-water intake pipes distributed around an OTEC plant can generate adequate momentum to globally position a platform to overcome the second-order drift forces, thereby eliminating the need for additional power for thrusters or for mooring lines. It is evident that if the intake rate of the flow is high, there will be interaction among the locally created steady flow due to the intake, the incoming wave, and the ensuing platform motions. In this work, we address such concerns by developing a linear theory for obtaining the motions (in the presence of incoming waves) of arbitrary 3D bodies from which there is a steady intake/discharge. The boundary-value problem is formulated within the assumption of the linear potential theory by decomposing the total potential into oscillatory and steady components. The steady potential is further decomposed into double-model and perturbation potentials. The time harmonic potential is coupled with the steady potential through the free-surface condition. The potentials are obtained using the quadratic boundary-element method. The effect of the steady flow on hydrodynamic force coefficients and response amplitude operators is studied.