ROLL DAMPING SIMULATIONS USING CFD FOR OFFSHORE WIND INSTALLATION OPERATIONS

In this work, the roll damping behavior of the offshore heavy lift DP3 installation vessel Orion from the DEME group is studied. Boundary element codes using potential flow theory require a roll damping coefficient to account for viscous effects. In this study, the roll damping coefficient is calculated using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) toolbox STAR-CCM+. Firstly, the CFD model setup is validated by performing roll decay tests and comparing the results with experimental scale model tests in a towing tank. Secondly, the roll damping is assessed by the Harmonic Excited Roll Motion (HERM) technique for various excitation frequencies and for different forward speeds. These high-fidelity full-scale simulations result in better estimations of roll damping coefficients for various conditions. This enhances the accuracy of efficient Boundary Element Methods (BEM) codes for wave-current-structure interactions simulations.