An efficient numerical calculation of wave loads on an array of vertical cylinders

As is well known, most off-shore oil platforms are supported by vertical cylinders. Correctly and efficiently calculating the wave loads on an array of cylinders is of great concern to ocean engineers. It was shown by Au and Brebbia(1) that wave loads on vertical cylinders can be calculated by using the boundary element method (BEM). However; their boundary discretization turns out to be still quite costly when the wave loads on an array of a large number of cylinders need to be calculated In this paper, a simple yet effective improvement on the numerical calculation of wave loads on vertical cylinders using BEM is presented. We shall shore a new algorithm of boundary discretization designed to enhance the numerical efficiency and thereby to reduce the computational cost when an array of a large number of cylinders are involved in a calculation.