Elastic response characteristics of a very large floating structure in waves moored inside a reef

 This article describes the results of hydraulic model tests of the elastic response of a very large floating structure (VLFS) moored inside a reef in an isolated island. The distributions of strains and vertical displacements due to the elastic response of the VLFS were measured. The response characteristics were strongly affected by deformed nonlinear waves inside the reef. A two-step analytical method to compute the elastic response of a VLFS is proposed, and its validity is verified using the results of the hydraulic model tests. Received: May 2, 2002 / Accepted: March 17, 2003 RID="*" ID="*" Address correspondence to: S. Shiraishi (shiraishi@pari.go.jp) Acknowledgment. This study was supported by the Program for Promotions of Fundamental Transport Technology Research from the Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology (CATT).