Tuned Liquid Column Damper based Reduction of Dynamic Responses of Scaled Offshore Platforms in Different Ocean Wave Basins

Control of dynamic responses of renewable energy device platforms is important for their performance, safe operation and efficiency over their lifetime under regular and extreme wave conditions. Tuned Liquid Column Dampers (TLCDs) have been recently considered as a viable passive control mechanism in this regard but limited information is available in relation to their experimental performance. This paper compares scaled experiments conducted in two different ocean wave basins where floating offshore platforms were retrofitted with multiple TLCDs (MTLCDs). Performance of such MTLCDs in these scaled ocean wave basins are evaluated and compared considering control of dynamic responses for a specific objective. This paper shows the potential of MTLCDs to reduce motions in offshore platforms for different designs and platforms of MTLCDs and provides a comparison of the levels of reduction of dynamic responses achieved. The performance of MTLCDs in different wave basins create an experimental evidence base behind the potential use of such solutions, the objectives of such use and highlight related challenges and limitations.