MOONPOOL EFFECTS ON A FLOATING BODY

Abstract

Floating Drilling Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FDPSO) are used for the production of oil from remote fields, where the installation of pipelines is uneconomical. Moonpool is the main characteristic of the FDPSO. Barges offer cheap way for transportation and lifting of offshore structures. Installation barges are often fitted with moonpool for functional purposes. Motions of trapped water inside the moonpool are a subject of study for researchers. In the present study numerical analysis of barge with and without moonpool were carried out using commercial software namely WAMIT and STAR CCM+. Two different configurations (circular and rectangular shape) of the moonpool were selected to study its effect on the motions of a barge. The oscillations of water inside the moonpool and its effects were also investigated. The numerical results show that the moonpool oscillation changes the response of a barge and also the vessel responses influence the moonpool oscillation. The sloshing mode was found to be dominating in the rectangular moonpool.