DEVELOPMENT OF A RESPONSE ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR A FLOATING DOCK SYSTEM

Docking operations of ships require a response assessment to ensure structural and personnel safety. Environmental loads and improper ballast adjustments are the main threats to the docking operations. They can cause severe structural damages and stability loss to a floating dock system which includes a floating dock and a docked vessel, even if the velocities of the dock and the vessel are very low during the docking process. Response assessment of the floating dock system, including structural strength analysis and stability check, needs to be performed for a safe docking operation. This paper aims to propose a framework of a floating dock system's response assessment. The stages of ship docking operations are firstly described. The environmental and operational risks involved in those stages are discussed in detail. Then, relevant studies on the structural strength assessment and stability analysis of floating docks are reviewed. Based on the review, a framework to perform a response assessment of a floating dock system is proposed and discussed with a focus on the dynamic response analysis. A numerical model of the dynamic response assessment is established using the language Modelica. A preliminary case study of a single dock under pure wave conditions is presented.