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Performance analysis is conducted for an adaptive bistable point absorber wave energy converter under white noise wave excitation. The adaptive bistable wave power capture mechanism is composed of two oblique springs responsible for bistable characteristics, and two auxiliary springs realizing the ‘adaptive’ feature. White noise wave excitation is adopted to explore the effects of multi-frequency input in absence of different energy distribution characteristics. Time domain simulations are performed based on Cummins equations derived from linear potential flow theory. Results indicate that the adaptive bistable mechanism still bears a better power performance than its linear counterpart which may be well explained by its inherent ‘phase control’ feature in white noise wave excitation. A parametric study is also carried out to investigate how the power capture performance of the adaptive bistable point absorber wave energy converter is affected by main and auxiliary spring stiffness, random phase of wave excitation and power-take-off damping.

Semi-submersibles for offshore oil exploration and exploitation often suffer from severe wave impacts in extreme ocean environments. Owing to the complex wave interactions among structural components of semi-submersibles, in-depth analyses on the characteristics of wave impact events are of significance for both industry and academia. An experimental study was carried out to investigate the local wave impact loads on a semi-submersible, with focus on understanding the wave impacts by identifying typical impact modes. Quantitative criteria are proposed to classify major wave impacts on the semi-submersible into six modes and two types. The results show that the classification is reasonable and provides valuable information for studying wave impacts on semi-submersibles. The incident wave characteristics at the fore column of the semi-submersible have important influence on the wave impact mode. The fore-column dominating wave impacts exert the most intense loads on the fore column and feature well-developed breaking waves or slightly breaking waves at the fore column. However, the aft-column dominating wave impacts exert the most intense loads on the aft column or the deck bottom and feature non-breaking waves at the fore column. Energy loss during the fore-column impact weakens the impact severity on the aft column in the fore-column dominating wave impacts. The shoaling effect of the submerged pontoon and different motion configurations of the platform result in higher occurrence rate of the aft-column dominating wave impacts. Different impact modes are also distinguished by different spatial distributions of wave impact loads.

Semi-submersible platforms have been widely used in offshore oil and gas exploitation due to their excellent performance, but wave impacts in extreme sea states remain a major concern. For the design of offshore structures with sufficient structural capacity, scholars have pointed out the wave pressure impulse obtained by time integration is more crucial compared with the peak impact pressure. In this study, wave basin experiments were carried out under a series of irregular waves to study the spatial variations of pressure impulse on a semi-submersible. To capture more wave impact events and get more accurate local impact pressures, a large number of impact load measurement units were compactly installed on two adjacent surfaces at the corner of test model. The probability statistical method is adopted to analyze the nonlinear features and spatial variations. The results show that the pressure impulse on a semi-submersible in irregular waves has strong variability and its spatial distribution presents local concentration features. It is found that wave impacts on the column are more serious and the variations of pressure impulse on the column are greater than that on the side of deck box under head sea state. Spatial variations of pressure impulse on a semi-submersible are severely affected by significant wave height Hs and spectral peak period Tp of irregular waves. Meanwhile, the number of wave seeds used in model tests have a decisive influence on the estimation and spatial variation of wave pressure impulses. The perspectives given in this study may provide references for the structure design of semi-submersible platforms and lay a foundation for improving the laboratory experiment of wave impacts.

In general, the lifetime of the offshore oil and gas platform is about 20–30 years, and a large number of oil and gas platforms is approaching the end of their service. So, how to decommission these oil and gas platforms safely and cleanly becomes an urgent problem for the oil and gas industry and related organizations. And the costs for decommissioning equipment and services are expected to be as low as possible. It is important to develop the innovative removal techniques to reduce the overall cost of decommissioning. In this paper, we propose a new concept to remove large and heavy structures with a single lift, utilizing three semi-submerged vessels. The main process of the twin-lift solution for decommissioning includes two semi-submerged vessels lifting the topside together, and then carrying the topside to the third semi-submerged vessel. This method is simple in principle and does not require the manufacture of new special vessels, only needs to make simple modifications to existing semi-submerged vessels. It requires high positioning accuracy especially under environmental disturbances to ensure the safety of transportation. To ensure efficiency and safety, we develop a dynamic positioning (DP) system and perform a wave tank test for such a twin-lift decommissioning solution. Some aspects of an experimental facility set-up for scaled model test with dynamic positioning system are described. It includes the topology of the experiment and details of the deck mating, DP and monitoring system.

The air gap response is crucial for the safe design and operation of large-volume floating platforms such as semi-submersible and tension leg platforms. It is a complex task to perform numerical simulation on the air gap response considering the wave free surface elevation and the motions of the floating vessel. Therefore, the prediction of air gap response still relies heavily on model tests. This paper attempts to investigate the effects of the mooring system, especially the effects of the length of mooring lines, on the air gap response of semi-submersible platform based on model tests results. The scaled model of the semi-submersible platform is supported by a symmetric mooring system composed of 8 mooring lines. A set of model tests with different length of mooring lines was performed in the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering basin at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the air gap responses of 15 locations were measured using wave probes. The results indicate that the mooring system plays an important role in the air gap response of semi-submersible platform.

Nonlinear coupling is an important safety consideration for offshore floating structures. Traditional mathematical models like linear motion equations are inadequate for predicting the nonlinear resonance of semi-submersible platforms with bracings. In this study, we proposed a mathematical model that considers the nonlinear effects of heave motion on pitch restoring coefficient, pitch motion on buoyancy, and bracings on buoyancy. Regular wave tests and numerical simulations were performed to investigate the characteristics of coupled motions and to validate the proposed mathematical model. Under head, quartering and beam sea conditions, motion instability of the semi-submersible platform occurred when the incident wave period approached the natural period of heave. In addition, a double-period phenomenon and unique pitch-motion profile were observed. Good agreements between experimental and nonlinear numerical results validated the ability of the proposed mathematical model to accurately simulate nonlinear effects and predict motion instability. Using the validated model, factors affecting the motion instability were analysed and measures to minimize instability were recommended.

Air gap is a critical design consideration for semi-submersible platform. Wave slamming will easily occur for the platform with a small air gap, resulting in serious damage to the platform and endangering the safety of personnel. Current studies on the air gap response paid little attention to the effects of the mooring system on the air gap response. In this study, the effects of the mooring system stiffness on the air gap response under extreme sea conditions were studied based on a numerical model validated by experimental results. The mooring system was simplified into a combined horizontal and vertical mooring system to investigate the influence of the horizontal and vertical stiffness of the mooring system on air gap response, respectively. Gumbel distribution was used to predict the extreme air gap response owing to the randomness of disturbing waves. As the horizontal stiffness of mooring system increases, the air gap increases unstably before decreasing. When the maximal vertical stiffness of mooring system exceeds 4.5% of the heave restoring coefficient of platform, the influence of vertical stiffness cannot be negligible. Based on the results, methods for choosing optimal parameters of the catenary mooring system for maximal air gap features are proposed.

Nowadays, extensive research has been conducted to generate electricity from ocean waves, but there are not too many studies on the capture of wave energy in a specific ocean area. As the largest sea area in China's offshore waters, the South China Sea contains a large amount of wave energy and is regarded as a natural wave energy power plant. A comparative study was conducted to investigate the effects of wave energy converter (WEC) parameters on the long-term power capture performance of a bistable point absorber WEC installed in the South China Sea in this paper. Combined with the joint probability distribution of significant wave height Hs and peak wave period Tp in South China Sea, a mathematical model was developed for the evaluation of long-term power performance of WECs. The governing equations of the point absorber WEC were established using the hybrid frequency-time domain method. The dynamic response and captured power can be obtained after numerically solving the equations of motion with the 4th order Runge-Kutta Method. The results show that the bistable mechanism has great advantages in the long-term captured power of WEC. In general, a circular truncated cone-shaped buoy WEC with a larger buoy size and smaller nonlinear parameter tend to result in better long-term power capture performance. The insights given in this study provide a motivation and foundation for developing a complete set of performance optimization methods of point absorber WECs installed in South China Sea.

The hybrid model testing technique has been widely used for evaluating the safety of deepwater floating systems. In this technique, a full-depth mooring system is equivalently substituted with a truncated model by employing truncation design. However, for a deepwater platform with a highly compliant mooring system, the large offset resulting from harsh environments makes it difficult to realize truncation design. The conventional symmetrically truncated mooring system starts to lose its accuracy. To achieve sufficient equivalence and enlarge the offset limit of the truncated model, a pre-offset and asymmetric truncation design is proposed in this paper for a deepwater semi-submersible system. The feasibility of the technique was first validated by numerical calculations. Thereafter, hybrid model testing was performed successfully for a semi-submersible with a highly compliant mooring system operating in harsh environments. Numerical reconstruction and extrapolation were performed, and the numerical results showed good agreement with experimental results. However, some remarkable discrepancies were observed in vertical motions because of nonlinear effects such as wave impact and the influence of bracings.

Offshore platforms operating in harsh ocean environments often suffer from severe wave impacts which threaten the structural integrity and staffs safety. An experimental study was carried out to investigate the wave impact load and its effect on the global response of a semi-submersible. First, two typical wave impact events occurring successively in the wave test run are analyzed, including the characteristics of incident waves, relative wave elevations and the spatial distribution of the wave impact load. Subsequently, the corresponding global response of the semi-submersible under these two wave impacts are investigated in time domain. It reveals that compared with the incident wave, the relative wave elevation has a more straightforward relationship with the wave impact load. The relative wave crest height is associated with the spatial distribution of the wave impact load, while the local wave steepness matters more in the magnitude of the wave impact load. The impulsive effect of the wave impact load on the motion behaviors is not obvious. But severe wave impacts can introduce excessive horizontal accelerations and nonlinear behaviors like ringing in the acceleration response.

The truncation design of a mooring system is the foundation of hybrid model testing techniques used in experimental research on deepwater floating platforms owing to the limited size of wave basin. Screening multi-variables for multi-objectives leads to difficulties in truncation design aimed at achieving acceptable equivalence, especially for an asymmetric mooring system. This paper proposes an efficient four-level screening method for the truncation design. The selected multi-variables of each mooring line are screened individually to generate feasible regions according to pretensions and initial hang-off angles. Subsequently, the feasible regions are concentrated by the second- and third-level screening: design truncated mooring lines and truncated mooring systems according to static equivalence. Finally, numerical forced oscillation is employed as the fourth-level screening to fulfil dynamic equivalence. Case studies of the truncation design of symmetric and asymmetric mooring systems have verified the proposed method.

Recent accidents caused by wave impact loads have attracted increasing concerns from academia and industry. An experimental study was carried out to investigate the local wave impact loads on a semi-submersible exposed to various sea states, focusing on the spatial distributions and interference among the fore column, aft column, deck bottom and deck side. A versatile tool based on the conditional probability is proposed and used along with correlation analyses to evaluate the interference among different components. The results show that the wave impact loads on the semi-submersible are of high nonlinearity and the aft column is the worst-hit component where wave impacts occur most frequently. The transition region between the fore column and deck side is the most dangerous area for extremely large waves, while the connection corner deserves particular concerns for the aft column and the deck bottom. The horizontal variation of wave impact loads is not significant on the fore column, but is remarkable within the width of the deck side. The interference examination reveals that wave impact loads on different components are correlated at varying levels under different wave impact scenarios. The in-depth analysis improves the understanding of wave impact events on multi-column floating structures.

The vortex-induced motions (VIM) of offshore floaters occur when the frequency of the vortex shedding is close to the natural frequency, and this phenomenon can severely affect the fatigue life of risers and moorings. During the design and operation stage of the semi-submersible (SS), VIM behavior has emerged as an important issue in offshore engineering. The shape of the columns, circular or square, and the wake interference, characterize the VIM of the SS. Numerical studies using the validated Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) method are carried out for parametric analysis of the VIM performance of various SS models consisting of different column shapes: with four rounded square columns, four circular columns and the mixed square-circular columns. The results show that the most significant transverse responses at 0 ∘ current incidence are observed for the SS with four circular columns and the one with two circular upstream columns. At a diamond configuration (i.e., 45 ∘ and 135 ∘ ), the SS models with a square upstream column all present the most pronounced VIM. The analysis shows that the vortex shedding characteristics of each column at different current incidence govern the VIM of the SS models. The square and circular columns both do large positive work on the transverse motions, and thus improve the VIM response at a certain current incidence. Therefore, the design of SS with square, circular and multi-shape columns can not mitigate the VIM behaviors efficiently. Designing a SS model with irregular polygon-shaped columns or twisted columns to avoid the strong vortex shedding may work.

Resonance is a critical consideration in the design of offshore floating structures. This paper aims at analysing the nonlinear effects of bracings and motion coupling on the resonance features of a semi-submersible platform. An improved mathematical model based on potential theory is proposed to simulate the motion response of a semi-submersible platform under irregular wave conditions, considering both the variations of hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces induced by the bracings entering and exiting the water and the nonlinear coupling induced by the platform motions. For comparison purposes, numerical simulations are also performed using a mathematical model without considering the aforementioned effects. Validated by results of wave basin tests and numerical simulations, the proposed model performs much better in capturing the characteristic resonance features of pitch motion in low-frequency region. The nonlinear hydrostatic effect of bracings leads to the increase of resonance frequency as the motion amplitude increases, while the hydrodynamic force on the bracings and the nonlinear motion coupling only influence the amplitude of resonance spectral peak. In addition, factors influencing the nonlinear effects such as the vertical position and diameter of bracings and the pitch restoring coefficient are further investigated. It is revealed that the deviation of pitch resonance frequency has evident dependence on the ratio between nonlinear and linear volumetric variations, and an empirical formula estimating the resonance frequency is proposed using the observed dependence. Theoretically, both smaller bracing radius and larger pitch restoring coefficient are beneficial for suppressing the resonance induced by the nonlinear effects. The proposed model can be an effective tool for predicting the motion response, and the understanding of the resonance features is helpful for the design of semi-submersibles.