Gap distance analysis of floating structures in tandem arrangement

Abstract

This paper proposed an empirical method to predict the minimum gap between two floating structures in tandem arrangement. The minimum distance is the shortest distance between two structures achieved due to surge motions induced by wave. This proposed empirical equation is created based on the experimental data between TLP and Semi-submersible. The experimental results indicate that the minimum gap length between TLP and Semi-submersible is highly depended on the structures' response. The empirical equation developed here is to estimate the minimal gap between structures in the functions of structures' response, wave height, wavelength and initial gap distance. Besides, this empirical method was shown well fixed with experimental results. The result showed that gap between structures changes in non-linear function to the wavelength. Finally, this suggested equation also can be used to define the safety of structures' arrangement in preliminary study.