A new energy-absorbing device for motion suppression in deep-sea floating platforms

Deep-sea floating platforms are one of the most important large structures for ocean energy exploitation. A new energy-absorbing device named S-shaped Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD) has been invented for the suppression of the horizontal motion and vertical in-plane rotation of a deep-sea floating platform. A conventional tuned liquid column damper has a U-shaped water tunnel to absorb the excessive energy of the main structure. The application of U-shaped dampers in deep-sea floating platforms is difficult due to the restriction of a large horizontal length. A novel S-shaped damper is proposed to retain the same amount of liquid using a shorter S-shaped tunnel. Theoretical and experimental works are conducted and prove that an S-shaped damper needs less than half the horizontal length to provide the same suppression as a U-shaped damper. A coupling calculation model is proposed and followed by the sensitivity analysis. The study demonstrates the applicability of the novel S-shaped damper for the motion suppression in deep-sea floating platforms.