Numerical Multiple-Body Simulations of Side-by-Side Mooring to an FPSO

A numerical time domain simulation model has been developed for the prediction of the hydrodynamic response of an LNG FPSO with an alongside moored LNG carrier. The model has been validated using the findings of dedicated basin model tests. The hydrodynamic response of two bodies in clo se proximity is a complex hydrodynamic interaction problem. Three influencing factors showed to play an important role on the quality of the results: - the use of a free surface lid in the multiple-body diffraction analysis for accurate calculation of the drift forces; - the use of accurate input data on relative viscous damping in the horizontal plane for the correct prediction of the low frequency motion response, and - the use of the complete matrix of retardation functions for the correct prediction of the heave and pitch motions.