Department of marine technology NTNU Lecture note for Special topic: Dynamic analysis of marine structures

DRAG FORCES IN DYNAMIC ANALYSIS

Introduction
Drag forces from waves are important for the design of many types of marine structures. Hence, we need to know how to include such forces in dynamic analysis in a correct way. Drag forces are normally calculated by use of Morison's equation. If the vibration amplitudes of the pile on Figure 1 are small relative to wave induced water particle motions, we may calculate the force without taking the velocity of the pile into account:

F(t)

u(t)

r
l, D

Figure 1. Vertical pile

1 Fd 1 = CD D l u (t ) u (t ) 2

(1)

The relative velocity between pile and water must be considered if the pile response becomes significant: 1 Fd 2 = CD D l [u (t ) r ] u (t ) r 2 If we assume that the wave induced motions are harmonic, we have:
u (t ) = u0 sin t

(2)

(3)

The two force equations will hence be written:

* 2 Fd 1 (t ) = CD u0 sin t sin t
* Fd 2 (t ) = CD (u0 sin t r ) u0 sin t r

(4) (5)

where:
* CD = 1 2

CD D l

(6)

The dynamic equilibrium equation can now be written for the two cases:
* 2 Fixed pile : m r + c r + k r = CD u0 sin t sin t

(7)

* Oscillating pile : m r + c r + k r = CD (u0 sin t r ) u0 sin t r

(8)

A regular wave with frequency should according to linear theory give a response at the same frequency, and the response amplitude should be proportional to the wave amplitude. These are the basic assumptions for use of transfer functions (frequency domain analysis) for stochastic response calculation. However, since the Morisons equation gives a drag force proportional to the velocity squared, none of the two assumptions are satisfied. From Eq. (7) it is seen that the force will not become proportional to the wave height since the tern u02 enters the equation, and the load is not harmonic since there is a sin t |sin t| term. Another consequence of the Morisons equation is seen from Eq. (8). The quadratic coupling between the wave induced velocity and the response velocity makes it impossible to split the drag into a damping and excitation term. The velocity of the structure must in fact be known in order to calculate the force. This note will describe how other frequencies than the wave frequency will appear in the drag force, and how the non-linear drag term can be approximately taken care of in a frequency domain analysis.

Drag force frequencies

Figure 2 shows a rigid cylinder subjected to a regular wave. The drag force on a segment with length l is found from the velocity amplitude u0 :
F(t)

u(t) = u0 sin t

F (t ) =

1 2

2 CD D l u0 sin t sin t

= F0 sin 2 t sign (sin t )

(9)

where F0 is found from the constants in the first equation, and given by
Figure 2. Rigid pile with drag load
* 2 2 F0 = CD u0 = 1 CD D l u0 2

(10)

Eq. (10) can be expressed as a Fourier series, which will give the following result:

F( t ) =

b
i =1

sin n t

(11)

The Fourier coefficient bn can be found as:

2F 2 f (t ) sin n t dt = T 0 T 0
T 2 T 2

bn =

sin
0

t sin n t dt ; =

2 T

(12)

The integral can be found in standard mathematical handbooks: for n = 1 0 for even values of n 4 15 for n = 3 4 105 for n = 5
4 3

2 2 sin t sin n t dt = T 0

T 2

(13)

The force time function can now be written:

8 8 8 F (t ) = F0 sin t + sin 3 t + sin 5 t + ......... 15 105 3

(14)

This equation shows that the drag force will have higher order frequency components than the wave frequency. It can be shown in a similar way that in the case of current in combination with wave there will be even frequency components (2, 4, 6 etc) as well. Figure 3 illustrates the true drag load time history and the first Fourier component. It is easy to realise from this figure that there must be a significant load component at the third order frequency by inspecting the difference between the total load and the first component.

Linear and non-linear drag force

1 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,2 Force 0 -0,2 -0,4 -0,6 -0,8 -1 0 2 4 Time 6 8 10 True load history First Fourier component

Figure 3. True drag force and first Fourier component

The correct frequency content will automatically be included in a time domain dynamic analysis, since drag forces will be found directly from Morisons equation at each time increment. However, if these load components should be included in a frequency domain analysis, one would have to calculate load components first and then find the response from each component. Such a procedure is possible for a structure with small motions. However, if the response velocity becomes significant compared to the wave induced velocity, the relative velocity must be taken into account. In this case one can not separate the frequencies since linear superposition is not valid. The only way of overcoming this problem, is to perform a full linearization of drag forces. Note that for a time domain analysis with significant response, the relative velocity must be known when calculating the force. A load iteration is hence needed for each time increment.

Drag force linearization

The drag force for a case with significant response velocity can be written:
q NL (t ) =
1 2

C D D l (u w r ) u w r

(15)

where uw is the wave induced velocity and r is the response velocity. It is not possible to split the drag force into an external force and a damping term when using this equation. This is possible if a linear approximation to this equation is applied:
* qL = 1 CD D l K L (uw r ) = CD K L (uw r ) 2
* where KL is a linearization coefficient and CD is given by Eq.(6).

(16)

If we can find the best possible KL , we may write the dynamic equilibrium equation like:
* * mr + (cs + CD K L ) r + k r = CD K L uw

(17)

and the equation can be solved in the traditional way. A regular wave will give a harmonic velocity function:
uw(t) = ua cos t

(18)

The response of the structure will then also be harmonic, but in general not in phase with the wave induced velocity:
r(t) = r1 cos t + r2 sin t

(19)

The velocity of the response will hence be:

r ( t ) = r1 sin t + r2 cos t

(20)

The relative velocity can now be written as:

u r = u w r = ( u a r2 ) cos t + r1 sin t = A cos( t + )

(21)

where A and can be found from a simple vector analysis. A will be given by:
A = (u a r2 ) 2 + 2 r12

(22)

The phase angle in the equation for the relative velocity is no longer of interest since it is the relative velocity alone that gives drag forces. We can therefore write:
ur = A cos t

(23)

The linear and non-linear drag forces can now be written as follows:
* qNL = CD A2 cos t cos t * * qL = CD K L cos t

(24)

Note that KL in Eq. (17) is different from KL* in Eq. (24). This is seen from the relations
* * * qL = CD K L cos t = CD K L (uw r )

(25)

and that
( u w r ) = u r = A cos t

(26)

Hence
K* = AKL L

(27)

Linearization will always introduce an error, and the best possible linearization coefficient K*L is the value that will give minimum error. The error is obviously the difference between the linear and non-linear load terms as seen from Eq. (24):
e 2 = (qL qNL ) 2
* * * = ( CD K L cos t CD A2 cos t cos t ) 2 * * = CD 2 cos 2 t ( K L A2 cos t ) 2

(28)

This error can be integrated over one wave period and K*L be chosen so that this error has a minimum value. Formally we can now write
e 2 = e2 =
0 T T

C
0

*2 D

* K L A2 cos t cos 2 t dt

(29)

The condition for best possible linearization coefficient is then: e2 =0 K * L By use of standard integration and differentiation rules we can show that: 8 A2 K = 3 meaning that the linearized drag force now can be found from Eq. (24):
* L

(30)

(31)

8 A2 qL (t ) = C cos t 3
* D

(32)

This force may excite the structure or provide damping. It is obvious that the force can be separated accordingly, and introduced as damping force on the left hand side of the dynamic equilibrium equation and as an external force on the left hand side. By going back to Eq. (26) we have:
* qL (t ) = CD

8A (uw r ) 3 * 8A = CD uw (external force, to right hand side of equation) 3 * 8A CD r (damping force, to left hand side of equation) 3

(33)

Note that both forces are functions of the same response parameter A, defined from Eq. (22), meaning that an iteration is necessary to find the solution. The dynamic equilibrium equation for a single degree of freedom system can be written as:

8A * 8A (34) ) r + k r = F (t ) + CD ua cos t 3 3 where c is the structural damping coefficient, F(t) represents other loads than the drag force, and ua is the amplitude of wave induced velocity. The unknown parameter A is given by:
* m r + (c + C D

A = (u a r2 ) 2 + 2 r12

(35)

where r1 and r2 are the cosine and sine response component amplitudes.

Since A must be known in order to calculate the response, and is a function of the response, an iteration loop must be followed: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Assume the sine and cosine response components r1 and r2 Calculate A from Eq. (35) Solve the dynamic equilibrium equation, cf. Eq.(34) Find new values for r1 and r2 Compare computed and assumed values. If the result is close to the assumption, accept the result. If not, go to step 2 and use the calculated response amplitudes for a new calculation for A.

If the system has small response amplitudes, the damping term from drag forces may be neglected. This means that r1 and r2 in Eq. (35) both are zero, and A = ua . The equilibrium equation will then become:
* m r + c r + k r = F (t ) + CD

8 2 ua cos t 3

(36)

which is an equation that can be solved without iteration. Note that the load and wave must have the same frequency in Eq.(36). If load components have different frequencies, one has to establish equations for each frequency and add the solutions to obtain the total response.

Time domain procedure

Drag forces can be correctly included in a time domain analysis. In this case we can write the dynamic equilibrium equation as:
1 m r + c r + k r = F( t ) + 2 CD D L ( uw r ) uw r

(37)

The drag load term is seen to be a function of the response velocity r . This can easily be taken care of in time domain integration by including an iteration scheme as follows: 1. Solution at time step i found, meaning that ri , ri and ri are known 2. Assume r for time step i+1 by r i+1 = r i + ri t , where t is the time step. 3. Compute drag load according to Eq. (37) 4. Compute displacement, velocity and acceleration according to standard procedure 5. Compare computed and assumed velocity. If the difference is smaller that the convergence criterion, proceed to next step. If not, use the computed velocity as a new estimate and go to step 3. Note that this procedure will also take care of the true frequency composition of the drag load, and will lead to a correct solution.
2005-09-08 cml
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