Hydrodynamic impact of cold-water pipes and mooring systems on KVLCC2 for floating OTEC platforms

The design and analysis of floating structures play a vital role in developing offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems, influencing their capacity, efficiency, and operational flexibility. This study investigates the hydrodynamic performance of a Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO) Very Large Crude Carrier 2 (KVLCC2) based floating platform integrated with varying lengths of CWP. The primary objective is to evaluate the platform's viability in supporting OTEC operations through detailed hydrodynamic analysis. Numerical simulations were conducted using ANSYS AQWA, based on the Boundary Element Method (BEM), and validated through both experimental and computational approaches. The impact of the mooring system was also analyzed to assess the platform's response and mooring line tension under irregular wave and ocean current loads applied at 0 deg, 45 deg, and 90 deg angles. The simulations were performed over 10800 s, during which the maximum mooring tension observed was 6.45 MN, representing 41 % of the system's maximum tension capacity.