Wave driven free surface motion in the gap between a tanker and an FLNG barge

When two vessels are moored side-by-side with a narrow gap between them, intense free surface motions may be excited in the gap as a result of complex hydrodynamic interactions. These influence the motions of the two vessels, and the forces in any moorings. The present paper uses first and second order wave diffraction analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Key theoretical aspects of the numerical analysis are first summarised, including the vital need to suppress “irregular frequency” effects; and results are given to validate the code used. The case of a tanker alongside a large floating FLNG barge is then considered in detail.