Minimizing differential deflection in a pontoon-type, very large floating structure via gill cells

When a pontoon-type, very large floating structure is heavily loaded in the central portion, it will deform with its central deflection much larger than its corner deflections. The resulting differential deflection, if large enough, may cause machines and equipment sensitive to differential deflection to cease operation or the floating structure to be subjected to additional large stresses. In this paper, we introduce the so-called gill cells which are compartments within the floating structure with holes or slits at the bottom floor to allow water to flow in and out freely. It will be shown herein that these gill cells reduce the differential deflection and the bending stresses significantly while maintaining the structural stiffness integrity by using the example problem of a super-large floating container terminal. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.