Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Stabilizing Effects of a Water-Entrapment Plate on a Deepwater Minimal Floating Platform

Abstract

The stabilizing effects of a water-entrapment plate at the keel of a small three-legged semi-submersible platform are determined using laboratory experiments and time-domain simulations. Motion predictions were carried out in the time-domain using coupled-analysis between the vessel and its mooring, linear diffraction-radiation theory, and an empirical wave-viscous interaction model. Model tests were conducted at the U.C. Berkeley Ship Model Testing Facility to determine the validity of the numerical model.