A Fundamental Study on Hydroelastic Behaviors of Large Aircushion Supported Flexible Floating Structures in Regular Waves

There are some studies on reduction of hyclroelaastic deflection of a very large floating structure. However, the wave drifting force increases when the deflection is reduced. It is very difficult to reduce the deflection and the wave drifting force at the same time.This paper proposes an aircushion-supported type for a very large floating structure. This type may be able to reduce the deflection and the wave drifting force simultaneously. Therefore, we show the theoretical analysis method for the hydrodynamic force of the aircushion-supported flexible floating structure. This analysis method is based on the pressure distribution method. The free water surface condition in the aircushion is satisfied when the boundary problem is solved in this method.In this paper, the deflection characteristic and the water elevation in the aircushion and around the structure are shown. We discuss them. Moreover., the calculation results by the pressure distribution method and the three-dimensional analysis based on the singular point distribution method are compared in order to prove validity of the program code and the corresponding theory.