Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Description

The course will cover the basic techniques for evaluating the maximum forces and loads over the life of a marine structure or vehicle, so as to be able to design its basic configuration. Loads and motions of small and large structures and their short-term and long-term statistics will be studied in detail and many applications will be presented in class and studied in homework and laboratory sessions. Issues related to seakeeping of ships will be studied in detail. The basic equations and issues of maneuvering will be introduced at the end of the course.

Three laboratory sessions will demonstrate the phenomena studied and provide experience with experimental methods and data processing.

Course Outline

  • Introduction to Course
  • Dynamical Systems

Part I: Tools for Seakeeping Analysis

  • Linear Time Invariant (LTI) Systems Analysis
  • Fourier Transform and LTI Systems
  • Random Processes and Linear Systems
  • Power Spectral Density
  • Short Term Statistics
  • Waves and Wave Spectra
  • Long Term Statistics

Part II: Fluid Structure Interactions

  • Viscous Forces
  • Drag and Resistance of Streamline and Bluff Bodies
  • Vortex Induced Vibrations
  • Flow Instabilities and Galloping
  • Vortex Induced Forces and Motions

Part III: Seakeeping and Station Keeping

  • Forces on Small Structures
  • Forces on Large Structures - McCamy and Fuchs Theory
  • Linear Theory of Wave Forces and Motions
  • Radiation and Diffraction Forces
  • Second Order Forces and Moments - Added Resistance

Grading

There will be two In-class (1.5 hours) exams, weekly homeworks, two laboratories and a final project. The exams will be open book/open note exams. The grades for the course will be based on the following:

Activities Percentages
Two Quizzes 50%
Labs/Projects 35%
Homeworks 15%

Individual Work

Each student will work individually on the homeworks, projects, and quizzes.

Useful Readings

There is no required text for this class. In the past, students have found this text useful:

Buy at Amazon Faltinsen, O. M. Sea Loads on Ships and Offshore Structures. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780521458702.

A suggested supplemental text for MATLAB® is:

Buy at Amazon Etter, D. M. Introduction to MATLAB® for Engineers and Scientists. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995. ISBN: 9780135197035.

Additional supplemental readings will be suggested throughout the term.