Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.5, No.4, December 2006, pp.

01-07

Calculation of wave and current loads on launching offshore jacket

ZHANG Guang-fa, JI Zhuo-shang, LI Tie-li, and LIN Yan
Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

Abstract: Its very complicated to calculate and analyze the wave and current loads on naval architectures since the sea condition is uncertain and complicated and the determinants vary from different form types and dimensions. For calculating the wave and current loads on upright small-long-size pipe, the Morrison equation is practical and applied. Jacket platform is a kind of offshore space frame structure comprised of lots of poles that are circular cylinders with small diameter and in the oblique status relative to seabed. In this paper, based on Morrison equation, the specific method and procedure calculating the wave and current loads on launching jacket are given and applied on a typical launching jacket. The instance shows that the method and procedure are convenient and make the calculation and analysis in good agreement with actual launching. Keywords: launchinghydrodynamic force; morrison equation; jacket platform CLC number: U661.1 Document code: A Article ID: 1671-9433(2006)04-0001-07

1 Introduction1
Its very complicated to calculate and analyze the wave and current loads on naval architectures since the sea condition is uncertain and complicated and the determinants vary from different form types and dimensions. The induced wave loads on naval architecture result from the pressure field formed by wave and the load can be classified into three kinds: drag force, inertia force and diffracting force. Drag force is caused by the current disturbance aroused by the sea. Inertial force is composed of two components, one of which is the force induced by the pressure field of incident wave and named as Froude-Crylov force, another is the additional mass force caused by the inertia of water. Diffracting force comes into being when taking into account the wave diffraction due to the structure body. For the mentioned above wave inductive loads components, which should be laid particular stress on, it depends on the model type and dimension of the structure and the wave environment [1]. Jacket platform is a kind of offshore space frame
Received date :2006-06-22. Foundation item: Supported by Item of Doctor Subject of Colleges and University (No.2000014125) and the Education Office of Liaoning Province (No.05l091).

structure comprised of lots of poles that are circular cylinders with small diameter. The character of the poles member of jacket is that when the progressive direction of current is vertical to its axis, due to the viscosity of the sea water, the current will be separated on the back of the circular cylinder, which results in a complicated flowing. For this kind of diffracting flow, it is difficult to analyze and obtain a practical result with the theory of potential flow of idea fluid. On the other side, for the body with small size relative to the wavelength, generally speaking, D/L<0.2, where D is diameter of the body and L is wavelength, the drag force and inertia force are major components. Currently, the experience analysis and experiment measure are adopted to resolve the practical engineering questions, in which the dominant is Morrison equation, which adopts the semi-experience and semi-theory method. The Morison equation is released by American scientists Morrison, OBrien and Johnson for calculating the wave and current loads on small diameter circular cylinders in the sea water. For the current load on structure, basically the wave-current combination may be treated either as a complex fluid-mechanical phenomenon where the interaction of wave and current is take into account or

Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.5, No.4, December 2006

as a relatively simple phenomenon where the interaction is ignored and the current is simply superimposed on waves. If the current is in the direction of wave propagation, the wave amplitude will decrease and its length increase. If the current is opposed to the wave, the wave will become steeper and shorter. In practical engineering, the second method is adopted. In calculation of wave load, the current velocity and acceleration are superimposed on wave water particle to consider the action of current on structure. In the jacket launching system, both of the poles structure of the jacket and its motion are complicated . When calculating the interaction of the barge and the jacket and the dynamic response parameters, wave and current loads are functions of dynamic response parameters, which are the unknown qualities to be resolved yet, so its difficult and even impossible to calculate wave and current loads directly.Based on the Morrison equation, a new and reasonable approach is described here in somewhat greater details than needed for calculating wave and current loads on jacket and launching analysis of the system. The idea is to calculate dynamically and iteratively the wave and current loads on oblique pipes like poles of jacket and a complicated system like the launching jacket.

velocity of wave water particle. As having known that velocity and acceleration of particle induced by wave are periodic functions and their horizontal components may be positive or negative direction along x-axis, i.e. in the progressive direction of waves or inverse. Therefore the square of horizontal component u should be substituted by | u | u in Eq.(1):
dFd = 0.5Cd D | u | udl .

2) Inertia force Fm , which is the acceleration force on the pile. The inertia force is directly proportional to the wave acceleration vertical to the pile:

dFm = 0.25Cm D 2 adl ,

where Cm is the inertia coefficient, a the wave acceleration vertical to the pile. So the summary wave force on the pile is: dF = dFd + dFm = 0.5Cd D u udl + 0.25Cm D 2 adl.

3 Calculating model of wave force on the pole member of jacket

3.1 Basic calculating models Jacket is structured by lots of welding poles locating in all kinds of directions, including vertical, horizontal and oblique directions. During launching, the direction of center axis of an individual pole is not vertical and fixed to the direction of current velocity and acceleration. As Fig.1 shows, the flow hydrodynamics and velocity of a differential section of a jacket pole can be projected to the fixed global coordinate system according to the location of the jacket pole. Since Morrison equations may be applied to a cylindrical member oriented in a random manner with respect to the mud line, the Eq.(1) can be re-written as:
unx dFx dFy 0.5Cd D U dl uny u dF z nz anx 2 0.25Cm D dl any . a nz

2 Morrison equations and the calculation of wave load on the cylindrical pile with small size
The basic principle of Morrison equation is that, the wave field will propagate without the effect of the body basically, namely the velocity and acceleration will be calculated by its original level dimension and with the original wave theory, so the wave load on the cylindrical pile can be comprised of two components as follows: 1) Drag force Fd , which is the velocity force caused by the undisturbed wave velocity field. The drag force on the pile is directly proportional to the square of the wave velocity vertical to the pile:
dFd = 0.5Cd Du 2 dl ,

(2)

(1)

where Cd is drag coefficient that is relevant to Reynolds number Re and is a function of current status, D diameter of the cylinder, the density of seawater, dl the length of the pile, u the

where u nx , u ny , u nz and a nx , a ny , a nz represent the components of velocity and acceleration vectors of flow water particle vertical to the differential section of the pole in the global coordinate in the x , y ,

ZHANG Guang-fa, et al: Calculation of wave and current loads on launching offshore jacket

z directions, respectively.

U n = u nx i + u ny j + u nz k e [( u x i +

u y j + u z k) e].
which yields: unx = u x ex (ex u x + ey u y + ez u z ) uny = u y ey (ex u x + ey u y + ez u z ). u = u e (e u + e u + e u ) z z x x y y z z nz 3

where u x , u y , u z represent respectively the velocity components of the water particle in the x , y , z directions which may be obtained by
Fig.1 The differential section of a pole of jacket and its velocity illustration

superimposing the velocity vectors of wave, current and the differential section of the pole. By the same method mentioned above, the projected

According to Eq.(2), the total flow hydrodynamic force and its moment can be obtained by the step: separating each pole of jacket into differential sections in a given step; superimposing the velocity vectors and acceleration vectors of the differential section of pole, wave and current; getting the projected components of them in the global coordinate system; selecting drag coefficient Cd and inertia coefficient
Cm according to the flow status; calculating the

components a nx , a ny and a nz vectors normal to the differential section of pole can also be obtained. 3.3 Model of wave and current Since the sea environment in which launching is performed is limited in a small amplitude wave by rule, the Airy wave theory (linear wave theory) is adopted. Equation of wave surface is = 0.5H cos(kx t ) . Wavelength is L = =

current hydrodynamics on the differential section of each pole, which are integrated to get the current hydrodynamics on the whole pole; adding the hydrodynamic forces of all poles together to obtain the total hydrodynamic force and moment on the jacket. 3.2 Calculating velocities and accelerations In the calculating step mentioned above, the most critical is to calculate the relative velocities and accelerations of the flow vertical to the axis of cylindrical pole member oriented in a random manner and at any time of launching. Let e be the unit vector along the cylinder, then

gT 2 2d . Velocity potential is th 2 L

Hg ch(kz ) . sin(kx t ) . Where d is sea depth, 2 ch(kd )

H wave height, T wave period, k wave numbers, k = 2 / L , wave frequency, = 2 / T . According to the velocity potential, the velocity and acceleration of wave water particle can be gotten: In shallow water:
H ch(k ( z + d )) cos(kx t ) cos , uwx = T sh(kd ) H ch(k ( z + d )) cos(kx t )sin , uwy = T sh(kd ) H sh(k ( z + d )) sin(kx t ). uwz = T sh(kd ) 2 2 H ch(k ( z + d )) sin(kx t ) cos , awx = 2 T sh( kd ) 2 2 H ch(k ( z + d )) a = sin(kx t )sin , wy T2 sh(kd ) 2 2 H sh(k ( z + d )) awz = cos(kx t ). T2 sh(kd )

e e x i + e y j + e z k.
Where i, j and k represent the unit vectors in the x , y , z directions of the global coordinate system, and

e x , e y and e z can be counted out by the two ends

of the pole. The velocity vector normal to the differential section of the pipe is then given by:

Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.5, No.4, December 2006

In deeper water: H kz uwx = T e cos(kx t ) cos , H kz e cos(kx t )sin , uwy = T H kz uwz = T e sin(kx t ). 2 2 H kz e sin(kx t ) cos , awx = T2 2 2 H kz e sin(kx t )sin , awy = T2 2 2 H kz e cos(kx t ). awz = T2 where is the direction of wave propagating. The surface current in the sea includes mainly two components: tidal current and local wend current. The factor of current such as velocity should be selected according to the statistic data obtained by practical experience. Generally, the current velocity varies with the sea depth, and is calculated here according to the calculating formulae recommended by reference [6]. U t 0 ,((h 10) z 0) U t ( z) = U t 0 lg(1 + 9 z /(10 h)),(h < z < (h 10))
U (h + z ) / h0 ,(h0 z 0) U f ( z) = f 0 0 0,( z < h0 )
U s ( z ) = U t ( z ) + U f ( z ),

3.4 Selections of drag coefficient Cd and inertia coefficient Cm The hydrodynamic coefficients Cd and Cm can be selected on the basis of the data of experience and experiment. They are functions of Reynolds number Re, relative roughness of surface for cylinder K/D, and scale of cylinder and wave parameters that depends on the wave theory selected to study. According to reference [4], the hydrodynamic coefficient Cd and Cm of the cylinder can be obtained by some criterions recommended by each state based on some wave theory. An overall advice on how to select Cd and Cm was given by Sarpkay and Isaccson(1981): for a smooth cylinder, the Reynolds number and so-called Keulegan-Carpenter number K can be calculated with the Stokes fifth order wave theory or stream function theory. Accordingly with the Re and K, Cd and Cm can be found out in the figures provided by reference [5]. If Re > 1.5 106 , namely beyond the maximums of the figures, Cd =0.62 and Cm =1.8[4]. The second method is here adopted to get the hydrodynamic coefficients Cd and Cm of upright cylinder pole. Referring to the assumption posed by Hoener(1965), who thought when Reynolds number was in supercritical zone, the vertical pressure would be free from tangential velocity, the Re and K could be calculated by the following formulae: Re =| U n | D / K =| U n | T / D , where is water viscosity factor T oscillation period. With the parameters Re and K calculated above, Cd and Cm can be found out in the Fig.3.19 and Fig 3.20 in reference [5] respectively.
'

usx = U s ( z ) cos ,

usy = U s ( z )sin ,
usz = 0 .

where h is water depth in m, h0 can be chosen as 50 m, U t 0 , U f 0 the tidal velocity and local wend current velocity of surface respectively, U c ( z ) the total velocity of current in the place with z depth, the direction of current. Superimposing the velocities and accelerations calculated by formulae in chart3.3, namely that of wave and current, and ignoring the acceleration of current, the total velocity and acceleration of wave and current can be obtained:
ucx = uwx + usx , ucy = uwy + usy , u = u + u . wz sz cz acx = awx , acy = awy , a = a . wz cz

And
'

then

the

hydrodynamic coefficients C d

and C m of the

oblique cylinder pole can be calculated with the Eq.3.10 provided by reference [4]:

C 'd = Cd (1 cos3 )1 ,
C 'm = Cm / sin ,
tan = tan / cos( + ), where is the included angle of current direction

ZHANG Guang-fa, et al: Calculation of wave and current loads on launching offshore jacket

and Y-axis, the included angle of current direction and wave propagating direction, the obliquity of the oblique cylinder pole.

vix = f x (v0 x , v0 y , v0 z , w0 x , w0 y , w0 z ), viy = f y (v0 x , v0 y , v0 z , w0 x , w0 y , w0 z ), v = f (v , v , v , w , w , w ). z 0x 0y 0z 0x 0y 0z iz

aix = fx (v0x ,v0y ,v0z ,a0x ,a0y ,a0z , w 0x , w 0y , w 0z , 0x , 0y , 0z ), aiy = fy (v0x ,v0y ,v0z ,a0x ,a0y ,a0z , w 0x , w 0y , w 0z , 0x , 0y , 0z ), a = f (v ,v ,v ,a ,a ,a , w , w , w , , , ), iz z 0x 0y 0z 0x 0y 0z 0x 0y 0z 0x 0y 0z

(5)

4 Model of calculation of hydrodynamic force on jacket

According to the above analysis, it can be known that the hydrodynamic force on jacket during launching is a function of the motion parameters such as displace, velocity, acceleration, angle, angular velocity, angular acceleration, which are unknown and resolving dynamic response parameters, the appropriate method may be a dynamic and iterating method which is described as: at the initial status of launching jacket, the moving parameters of the next time step can be obtained with difference equation. Secondly, calculating hydrodynamic jacket with the model mentioned above, and substituting it into the motion equation to solve the equation iteratively until the results errors is less than some given precision degree to count out the unknown qualities, namely motion parameters; and then doing the next step calculation. The specific procedure is described as follows: 1) With the motion parameters counted out in the last time step, calculate the initial iterating motion parameters of the current time step with difference equation. 2) Calculate the velocity and acceleration of the differentiate section of jacket pole. Differentiating separate each pole of jacket into n sections, and the coordinate of the differential section center in the jacket coordinate system can be counted out and transferred into global system by the coordinate transferring Eq.(4)
xij xi yi Sjg yij z zi ij
x0 y0 , z0

(6)

where
v0 x , v0 y , v0 z , a0 x , a0 y , a0 z , w0 x , w0 y , w0 z , 0 x , w0 y , w0 z , 0 x , 0 y , 0 z

represent the velocity and acceleration components in the x , y , z directions respectively. 3) Calculate the components of unit vector of the pole axis ex , ey and ez . Let ( xa , ya , za ) and ( xb , yb , zb ) be the coordinate of the two end points of the pole in the global system.

| e |= ( xa xb )2 + ( ya yb ) 2 + ( za zb )2 ,
ex = ( xa xb ) / | e |,

ey = ( ya yb ) / | e |,
ez = ( za zb ) / | e | . 4) Calculate the components of velocity and acceleration of flow in x , y , z directions of global

system by chart 3.3. 5) Calculate the velocity and acceleration of current in the direction vertical to pole center axis. Firstly calculate the components of velocity and acceleration of flow relative to the pole in x , y , z directions of global system with Eq.(7). And then calculate the velocity and acceleration of flow in the direction vertical to pole axis by Eq.(3).
u x = ucx vix , u y = ucy viy , u = u v . cz iz z ax = acx aix , a y = acy aiy , a = a a . cz iz z
7

6) Calculate the drag coefficient Cd and inertia coefficient Cm according to chart 3.4. 7) Calculate the hydrodynamic force on the differentiated section of pole by Eq.(2). 8) Superimpose the hydrodynamics of all differentiated sections of all poles of jacket and the wave, and the current force on the jacket can be obtained. 9) Substitute the hydrodynamics above obtained into the system equation, and resolve the equation with iterating method to get the motion parameters. 10) Do the next calculation.

where Sjg is the matrix transferring coordinate from jacket system to global system, ( xij , yij , zij ) and
( xi , yi , zi ) are coordinate vectors of section center in

jacket system and global system respectively, ( x0 , y0 , z0 ) is the coordinate of gravity center of jacket in global system. Differentiating the Eq.(4) one time and twice with respect to time, respectively the velocity and acceleration of the pole differentiating section can be obtained as Eq.(5) and Eq.(6).

Journal of Marine Science and Application, Vol.5, No.4, December 2006

5 Example
According to the mentioned above principle and mathematic model, the calculating program is madden. With the program, a kind of classic jacket and barge launching system with the sea condition where the wind, wave and current have 45 degree incidence angle is calculated. The Table 1 lists the base input data. The Fig.2 shows the time history illustration of the calculating result of wave and current loads on the jacket. The Fig.3 and Fig.4 show the time history illustration of velocity and acceleration of jacket gravity center respectively. The launching trajectory is shown in the Fig.5.
Table 1 The base data of the launch system Base data Weight /t x /m y/m z/m Ix/m4 Iy/m4 Iz/m4 Ixy/m4 Ixz/m4 Iyz/m
4

(44.400 73, -24.804 93, 34.516 13), (50.556 8, -24.80493,-14.710 3), (-74.744 15, 9.260 37, -14.714 3), (-77.0423 8, 9.260 37, 3.663 29), (44.400 73, 24.804 93, 34.516 13), (50.556 8, 24.804 93, -14.710 3). The diameters of the poles are from 0.61m to 2.006 6 m, and the thickness of the poles pipes are from 0.012 7 m to 0.05 m.. 1000
8.0 6.0 Fjc.x Fjc.y Fjc.z

Hydrodynamic/kN hydrodynamic/1000kN

4.0 2.0 0.0 -2.0 -4.0 -6.0 -8.0 0.0 8.0

16.0

24.0

32.0

40.0

Barge 10 790.91 -7.484 0 4.405 2.556E+09 4.266E+09 4.516E+09 -213 378 -7 943 337 3 576.3 0.08 0 119.15 30.5 8 0.955 4.535

Jacket 5 500 -11.7 0 29.5 3.291E+09 8.682E+09 8.237E+09 259.1 -7.05E+08

Time/s

Fig.2 The time history illustration of wave and current loads on jacket
8 6
-1

4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 0.0 8.0

jacket.vx jacket.vy jacket.vz

Friction coefficient Initial slide Velocity/ ms-1 Ship length/m Ship wide /m Ship height /m Cube form coefficient Initial draft /m

0.014

velocity/m.s

118.6

16.0

24.0

32.0

40.0

Time/s

Table 2 The environment data of the launch system Environment Sea depth /m Wind velocity / ms
-1 -1

Fig.3 The time history illustration of velocity of jacket gravity center

3 2 acceleration/m.s
-2

data 110 9 0.2 0.5 2 10 722

Tidal current velocity / ms Wave height /m Wave period /s Pole number

1 0 -1 -2 0.0

jacket.ax jacket.ay jacket.az

Wend current velocity/ ms-1

8.0

16.0

24.0

32.0

40.0

The jacket has 722 poles whose coordinate and form parameters data are input with a file. The coordinates of the 8 outline points are as follows:(-74.744 15, -9.260 37, -14.714 3), (-77.042 38, -9.260 37, 3.663 29),

-3 Time/s

Fig.4

The time history illustration of acceleration of jacket gravity center

ZHANG Guang-fa, et al: Calculation of wave and current loads on launching offshore jacket

Fig.5

The launching trajectory illustration of the launching system

Where Fjc.x, Fjc.y, Fjc.z are the components of wave and current loads on jacket at x, y, z axis of jacket coordinate system respectively. jacket.vx, jacket.vy, jacket.vz are the components of velocity of jacket gravity center. jacket.ax, jacket.ay, jacket.az are the components of acceleration of jacket gravity center.

1) Since there are interferences and superposing between jacket poles, the wave and current loads on jacket would be calculated on the high side, as a result, the resolve on the motion equations of the system is not coincident to the real launching course. During the practical calculation, an interference coefficient is multiplied on the results and the result is in good agreement with the real launching. 2) The wave and current force on jacket mainly loads in the longitudinal direction (namely the launching direction), and the transverse direction loads will increase with the incident angle of the wind, wave and current increasing to 90 degree, at which the loads arrive at maximums which is very dangerous, so the status should be escaped.

References
[1] LI Runpei, WANG Zhinong. The strength analysis for offshore structures [M]. Snanghai: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press, 1992 (in Chinese). HUANG Xianglu, LU Xinshen. Hydromechanics and structure dynamical response of ship engineering [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press, 1992 (in Chinese). ZHANG Guangfa, JI Zhuoshang, LI Tieli, LIN Yan. Program design for launching analysis of platform jacket [J]. Journal of Dalian University of Technology, 2004(3): 416 420 (in Chinese). LI Yucheng, TENG Bing. Wave action on maritime structures [M]. Beijing: Ocean Press, 2002 (in Chinese). SARPKAYA TURGUT, ISAACSON M . Mechanics of wave forces on offshore structures [M]. NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1981. WANG Yanying. Waves and wave loads on offshore structures[M]. Dalian: Dalian Maritime University Press, 2003.

6 Conclusions
The example shows that the calculating result is in good agreement with the actual launching. 1) The wave and current loads on jacket will be maximums at the time when it submerges into water. The reason is that the velocity, acceleration, angle velocity and angle acceleration of jacket all arrive at the maximums at this time, and the number of poles submerging into water is great. 2) Compared with x and y directions, the wave and current loads on jacket in the y direction is much less, since the transverse moving velocity and acceleration of jacket is much less than longitudinal and perpendicular. 3) The time history trend of the wave and current loads on jacket is coincident with that of the velocity of jacket, and the acceleration affects the loads just a little, for the velocity of jacket is magnitude during the launching and the acceleration is much less. Additionally, according to the above-calculated result, some conclusions can be gotten as follows:

[2]

[3]

[4] [5]

[6]

ZHANG Guang-fa was born in 1970. He is a doctor of Dalian University of Technology. His current research interests include ship CADand ocean engineering.