Numerical Study of Wind Loads and Experimental Validation for a FPSO Vessel Model

FPSO is one of the largest vessels in offshore industry, the complexities of its topside structures pose a big challenge in reliable prediction of wind loads both with CFD modeling and in wind tunnel test. In this study, we have conducted detailed CFD studies of wind flow over a generic FPSO model at both full scale and model scale of 1:400, including the impact of different wind velocities and wind profiles. In the model scale, the simulations are performed at the constant wind velocity of 10m/s and 20m/s, for all wind headings between 0 to 360 degrees with a step of 10 degrees. The calculated wind loads in the form of coefficients of three force components and three moment components are validated against experimental measurements. In addition to the overall wind loads on the FPSO, the static surface pressures at 28 sensor locations were also measured during the wind tunnel test. In general, they are compared well with CFD simulation results. For the full-scale model, the CFD simulations are performed at different design wind speeds, the results confirmed the scalability of wind loads at the model scale. The impact of wind profile shape is addressed in this paper as well.