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| Url | https://www.cimne.com/sgp/rtd/Project.aspx?id=1055 | ||
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| Acronym | FLEXFLOAT | ||
| Project title | Hydroelasticity of flexible floating structures | ||
| Reference | PID2024-158162NB-I00 | ||
| Principal investigator |
Borja SERVÁN CAMAS - bservan@cimne.upc.edu
Rafael PACHECO BLAZQUEZ - rpacheco@cimne.upc.edu |
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| Start date | 01/09/2025 | End date | 31/08/2028 |
| Coordinator | CIMNE | ||
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| Program | Programa para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Experimental | Call | Proyectos Generación de Conocimiento 2024 |
| Subprogram | Subprograma de Generación de Conocimiento Científico-técnico y Desarrollo Experimental | Category | Nacional |
| Funding body(ies) | MCIU | Grant | 0,00 € |
| Abstract | Floating marine structures are stiff structures by design. This is still nowadays a primary criterion for marine structures designers. And analysing a flexible floating structures (FFS) involves to predict the dynamics of a complex multi-physics problems requiring the interaction among different simulation tools. We refer as FFSs to floating structures with modal frequencies in the range of the incident wave frequencies. Hence structural elasticity is coupled to the seakeeping hydrodynamics and the coupling effects (neglected in the stiff approach) must be considered. Ship’s structural scantling assume the stiff approach, and is usually based on rules that rely on simple structural calculation, large safety factors, and limit the elastic response. As a consequence, there is limited applicability of materials different to steel or concrete, such as FRP, for large structures. For instance, despite of the superior performance of FRP respect to steel in terms of corrosion, current stiffness criteria would make a large FRP structure to be heavier if compared to its steel counterpart. Structural design and maintenance tasks of a vessel need to be supported by performant and reliable numerical models to analyse the structural hydroelasticity. Studying the effects of hydroelasticity in terms of global loads and fatigue of ships continues to be a hot topic of research in marine engineering and naval architecture. Despite of the existence of high-fidelity computational tools to compute the external loads and the structural response, the large number of scenarios to be analysed makes the high-fidelity approach expensive when compared to the abovementioned rules. The design of FFSs remains a challenge, and one of the main reasons is the lack of efficient computational tools to assess the hydroelastic problem at design stages. FLEXFLOAT main objective is to advance in the field of computational hydroelasticity of FFSs. The development of innovative and fast computational hydroelasticity tools is thus essential for improving the structural assessment and design of FFSs. For this purpose, this project will thrust the use of the computational methods developed by the research team by demonstrating its validity through an extensive validation campaign based on three different concepts of FFSs. Improved predictive capabilities will allow for much more precise definitions of operational conditions, determining under what environmental conditions an FFS can or cannot operate (operational envelope),potentially increasing its production capacity and safety. And providing more accurate evaluation of remaining useful life, which is also crucial for developing more informed lifetime extension strategies. FLEXFLOAT aims at demonstrating and improving the capabilities of current state-of-the-art simulation tools developed by the research team. These tools are capable of coping, in a very efficient manner, with the hydroelasticity problem of FFSs. However, in order to make a sound impact at industry, these tools must be validated, and available data is scarce and not open access. | ||