Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Hydroelastic Response of a Hinged Hexagon Enclosed Platform in Waves

With the development of very large floating structures (VLFSs), a hexagon enclosed platform (HEP), which consists of six trapezoidal modules with a hinged connection, is recently proposed. Preliminary studies have shown its good performance for multipurpose ocean exploration applications, but the traditional rigid connector might not satisfy the requirements. To further enhance the design and performance of the HEP, a hinged connection HEP is proposed and studied in this article. An experimental framework is developed and implemented in a large wave tank with extensive analysis. After that, a numerical approach is developed to study its hydroelastic responses, and the approach is well validated with the experimental results. The analysis shows that wave conditions significantly affect the HEP performance, and the maximum vertical bending moment (VBM) caused by a 0(degrees) incoming wave is 1.64 times that caused by a 30 degrees incoming wave, and is about 1.8 times that of an HEP with rigid connectors. This study is expected to guide HEP developers and serve as a benchmark for the scientific research community.