Green Water Loading on a FPSO

Abstract Green Water Loading in the bow region of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit (FPSO) in head sea waves is studied by numerical means. A 2-D method satisfying the exact nonlinear free-surface conditions within potential-flow theory has been developed as a step towards a fully 3-D method. The flow is assumed 2-D in a plane containing the ship’s centerplane. The method is partly validated by model tests. The importance of environmental conditions, 3-D flow effects, ship motions, and hull parameters are summarized. The wave steepness of the incident waves causes important nonlinear effects. The local flow at the bow is, in general, important to account for. It has become popular to use a dam-breaking model to study the propagation of water on the deck. However, the numerical studies show the importance of accounting for the coupled flow between the deck and outside the ship. When the water is propagating on the deck, a suitable distance from the bow can be found from where shallow-water equations can be used. Impact between green water on deck and a vertical deck-house side in the bow area is studied in details. A similarity solution for impact between a wedge-formed water front and a vertical rigid wall is used. Simplified solutions for an impacting fluid wedge with small and large interior angles are developed, both to support the numerical computations and to provide simpler formulas of practical use. It is demonstrated how the local design of the deck house can reduce the slamming loads. The importance of hydroelasticity during the impact is discussed by using realistic structural dimensions of a deck house. This indicates that hydroelasticity is insignificant. On the contrary, first results from an ongoing experimental investigation document blunt impacts against the deck during the initial stage of water shipping, which deserve a dedicated hydroelastic analysis.