Behaviour of Large Cylindrical Offshore Structures Subjected to Wave Loads

Spar-type and monopole substructures consisting of a large-diameter, single vertical cylinders have been used as wind turbine towers, oil storage platforms, tankers and wave energy converters at deepwater region in the sea. These towers and platforms are exposed to environmental forces such as wind, wave and current. Wave force is the most effective force in the total environmental force. The body disturbs the incident wave and Diffraction Theory is used for computing the pressure distribution for designing the structure. Therefore, this study aims to present the effect of structural design of towers on dynamic behavior due to wave actions. Two different cases of structural models are selected to employ bidirectional fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis. Diffraction Theory is utilized to investigate wave forces. Solid and fluid domains are modeled in Abaqus finite elements program. Behaviors of various types of offshore structures are evaluated and compared according to the significant stresses and displacements. The hydrodynamic pressure on the cylindrical structure surface and the diffraction forces acting on structures are presented. Mode shapes, first three natural frequencies are comparatively given.