Nonlinear Dynamics of Floating Cranes

The nonlinear dynamic responses of moored crane vessels to regular wavesare investigated experimentally and theoretically. The main subject ofinterest are nonlinear phenomena like bifurcations and the existence ofmultiple attractors. In the experimental part of the work, a mooredmodel of a crane vessel has been excited by regular waves in a wavetank. A special mechanism has been developed to model the nonlinearbehavior of real mooring systems. The theoretical part of the workconcerns the mathematical modeling of the floating cranes. Twomathematical models of different levels of complexity are presented. Twodifferent tools are used to systematically determine the responses ofthe systems to periodic forcing of waves. Firstly, the path-followingtechniques in combination with numerical integration of equations ofmotion applied to a full nonlinear model give insight into the dynamicsin time domain. Secondly, the multiple scales method allows for ananalytical investigation of simplified nonlinear models in frequencydomain. Many results of computations for two crane vessels, barge andship, are presented. Special attention is paid to oscillations near thefrequencies of primary resonances and to subharmonic motions. Anexcellent agreement is found between the results of time-domain andfrequency-domain analysis. The computational examples chosen correspondto the models used not only in the present experiments but in theexperiments of others as well. The results presented in the work allow usto draw several important conclusions concerning the dynamic behavior offloating cranes during offshore operations. Both the developed modelsand the analytical tools can be used to identify the limits of theoperating range of floating cranes.