C. M.

Wang
Z. Y. Tay1
e-mail: cvetzy@nus.edu.sg
Department of Civil Engineering,
National University of Singapore,
Kent Ridge 119260, Singapore
K. Takagi
Department of Ocean Technology, Policy, and
Environment,
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences,
University of Tokyo,
5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi,
Chiba 277-8563, Japan
T. Utsunomiya
Department of Civil and Earth Resources
Engineering,
Kyoto University,
Kyoto 615-8540, Japan
Literature Review of Methods for
Mitigating Hydroelastic Response
of VLFS Under Wave Action
Presented herein is a literature review on the design and performance of antimotion
structures/devices such as breakwaters, submerged plates, oscillating water column
breakwaters, air-cushion, auxiliary attachments, and mechanical joints for mitigating the
hydroelastic response of very large floating structures (VLFS) under wave action. Shapes
of VLFS that could minimize the hydrodynamic response of the structure are also dis-
cussed. The analytical, numerical, and experimental methods used in studying the effect
of these antimotion structures/devices toward reducing the hydroelastic responses of
VLFS are also reviewed. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.4001690兴
Keywords: antimotion devices, very large floating structures, hydroelastic response,
breakwaters, submerged plates, auxiliary attachments, mechanical joints

1 Introduction fore, it is important to mitigate the hydroelastic responses of the

In Dec. 7, 2001, 100 Nobel laureates gathered at the Nobel
Peace Prize Centennial Symposium in Oslo and issued a dire
warning on the profound danger stemming from the threat of glo-
bal warming toward humanity and environment 关1兴. One of the
greatest menaces as a result of global warming is the rise of sea
water level due to the impact of ice melting and ocean thermal
expansion. The rise of sea water level would contribute to the
flooding, storm surges, coastal erosion, and inundation of low-
lying coastal regions 关2兴. Paehler 关3兴 reported that a mere 20 cm
sea level rise could result in 740,000 homeless people in Nigeria
whereas the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the Univer-
sity of Arizona reported that all the cities along the eastern sea-
board of the U.S. would be swamped if the sea water level rises
by 1 m 关4兴. The land scarcity problems together with the projected
growth of world population from 6.1⫻ 109 in 2000 to 8.9⫻ 109 in
2050 关5兴 are likely to exert an even greater pressure on the coastal
cities and island countries, hence, catalyzing the need to create
more land mass for development. Today, this global warming
problem has now become one of the key agenda items for all the
heads of states in international meetings to address.
As a solution to pursue an environmentally friendly and sus-
tainable technology in birthing land from the sea and recognizing
the rising water level due to global warming, the concept of very
large floating structures 共VLFS兲 was introduced. It is a technology
that allows the created artificial land to float on rising sea level
and has a minimal effect on marine habitats, water quality, and
tidal and natural current flows 关6兴. Usually, moored by dolphin-
frame guide systems that restrain the horizontal movement of the
floating structures, VLFS are free to move in the vertical direction
共heave motion兲 according to the tidal variations and varying pay-
loads. Hence, the rise and fall of sea water level have minimal
impact on VLFS. Owing to their large surface areas and relatively
small depths, VLFS behave elastically under wave action. There-
1
Corresponding author.
Published online July 2, 2010. Transmitted by Editor J. N. Reddy.
floating structures for applications that demands stringent service-
ability requirements.
2 Applications of VLFS and Problems Due to Exces-
sive Hydroelastic Response
2.1 Mega-Float-Floating Runway. The Japanese constructed
and studied the performance of the Mega-Float 共a 1 km long float-
ing test runway located in Tokyo bay, see Fig. 1兲 from 1995 to
2001 in order to develop the technology for ocean space utiliza-
tion as well as to investigate the soundness of the VLFS technol-
ogy for use as a floating airport. Functionality and safety criteria
were the key issues for the design of the Mega-Float. The func-
tional criterion that dominates the Mega-Float design is the effect
of the hydroelastic responses on the sensitive instrument landing
system, precision approach pass indicator, and future air naviga-
tion system 关7兴. Hence the Mega-Float should have sufficient stiff-
ness to keep hydroelastic responses due to wave action as small as
possible. The safety criterion is to ensure that the Mega-Float is
sufficiently strong to withstand the structural components stresses
due to applied live loads and environmental loads. Suzuki et al.
关8兴 and Endo 关9兴 reported that the stresses in the structural com-
ponents and the vertical movement of the airplane on the floating
runway depend significantly on the structural wave propagation,
i.e., the hydroelastic response. Suzuki 关7兴 claimed that excessive
deformation, motion, and vibration induced on the VLFS would
disrupt the serviceability of the Mega-Float as a floating runway
whereas cyclical loading due to wave slamming might result in
fatigue of the structural components. The excessive structural re-
sponse could also lead to the sinking of the floating structure due
to progressive flooding and drifting of the floating structure due to
the failure of dolphin-fender system. Thus, reducing the hy-
droelastic response of the VLFS becomes an essential design con-
sideration for the Mega-Float as a floating runway or airport.
2.2 Floating Storage Base. The Japanese have also built and
operated megafloating fuel storage bases in Kamigoto and
Shirashima Islands 共see Figs. 2共a兲 and 2共b兲兲. Feasibility studies
have been made to construct a megafloating fuel storage facility
共FFSF, see Fig. 2共c兲兲 to be sited off Pulau Sebarok, Singapore. Tay

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 Fig. 1 Mega-Float at Tokyo Bay, Japan †7‡
et al. 关10兴 found that the excessive hydroelastic responses and
interactions of the two floating storage modules 共Fig. 2共c兲兲 when
placed side-by-side will affect the loading and offloading opera-
tions of the fuel significantly. The steady drift forces, which are
affected by the hydroelastic responses and wave elevations sur-
rounding the floating body, also increase as drafts of the storage
modules get larger. Thus, it is necessary to find a solution to
mitigate these structural responses and wave elevations surround-
ing the floating structure.
2.3 Floating Bridges and Wind Farms. Applications of
VLFS as floating bridges and floating wind farms are shown in
Fig. 3. Besides the wave-induced loads, the hydroelastic responses
of these VLFS are possibly influenced by moving loads such as
vehicle loads on bridges and centrifugal loads due to the rotating
blades of the wind turbines. The structural vibrations could be
reduced by having tuned mass-damper system or by improving
the structural integrity of these floating structures.
2.4 Floating Houses, Dormitories, and Cities. The use of
VLFS has long been proposed for human habitation on the ocean
surface. For example, concepts of the floating cities have been
Fig. 2 Application of VLFS as floating oil storage
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devised and developed in the context of Japanese architecture and
urban planning during the second half of the 20th century 关11兴.
The Lilypad Ecopolis 共Fig. 4共a兲兲 was proposed by the Belgium
architect Vincent Callebaut as an example of a visionary proposi-
tion to house the city population on a huge floating lily-shaped
structure. With more than half of The Netherlands’ land area now
below sea level, the Dutch have also propounded the concept of a
floating town 共Fig. 4共b兲兲, which is a visionary integrated town
consisting of greenhouses, commercial center, and residential
area. With the increase in popularity of utilizing the concept of
VLFS for future human habitation, minimizing the hydroelastic
responses and the structural vibrations of the VLFS have emerged
as a major design concern in order to reduce the level of discom-
fort experienced by the inhabitants. Cheung 关12兴 reported that
floating structures with a high structural flexibility and low inher-
ent structural damping 共such as the large mobile drilling plat-
forms, supertankers, and VLFS兲 can exhibit vibrations of low fre-
quencies. Such low frequency vibrations and responses of the
floating structure would result in motion sickness. ISO 2631/3
关13兴 reported that the oscillating frequency in the range of 0.1–
0.63 Hz 共i.e., T = 1 – 3 s兲 and heaving response of merely 25–32
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 3 Application of VLFS as „a… floating bridge and as „b… proposed float-
ing wind farm in Japan „Picture courtesy of National Maritime Research
Institute…
cm 关14兴 are sufficient to provoke seasickness. Furthermore, the
coincidence of wave frequency with the natural vibration fre-
quency of the structure would result in resonance, hence, ampli-
fying the response of the structure significantly. The motion sick-
ness due to low frequency vibration and the response
amplification due to resonance would then deteriorate work ability
and afflict the population of the VLFS substantially.
3 Methods in Reducing Hydroelastic Response
Several methods have been introduced to minimize the hy-
droelastic responses of VLFS. For instance, conventional methods
such as the bottom-founded type 共see Fig. 1兲 or floating-type
breakwaters 共see Fig. 2共c兲兲 are used to attenuate the wave forces
impacting on the VLFS. Besides that, innovative antimotion de-
vices such as the submerged plate antimotion devices, oscillating
water column 共OWC兲 breakwaters, air-cushion, and articulated
attachments have been considered as means to reduce the hy-
droelastic responses of the VLFS. Researchers have also investi-
gated different types of mechanical joints and shapes of VLFS
that would minimize the hydroelastic responses. The mechanism
and performance of these mitigation devices and methods will be
addressed below.
3.1 Bottom-Founded Type Breakwater. Bottom-founded
type breakwaters were initially used to protect coastal areas from
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severe wave surging onto the shore and are very effective in ab-
sorbing the wave energy. The performance of bottom-founded
type breakwaters has been investigated by several researchers.
The methodology for the design of conventional bottom-founded
breakwaters is given by Goda 关15兴.
In order to investigate the hydrodynamic mutual interaction be-
tween breakwater and VLFS, Utsunomiya 关16兴 carried out a nu-
merical analysis on a 1600⫻ 400⫻ 4 m3 VLFS with a bottom-
founded type breakwater placed close to the VLFS under different
incident wave directions 共see Fig. 5兲. Figure 5 shows that the
significant reduction in the hydroelastic response of VLFS with
the presence of the bottom-founded breakwater, especially when
the waves propagate in the beam sea direction. Ohmatsu 关17兴
employed the eigenfunction expansion-matching method to pre-
dict the effect of breakwater on a 1200⫻ 240⫻ 1.04 m3 Mega-
Float under an oblique wave 共␪ = 60 deg, see Fig. 6兲. His results
are found to be in good agreement with those predicted by the
Green’s function method adopted by Utsunomiya et al. 关16兴. The
greatest hydroelastic response at the fore-end of the VLFS could
be reduced by approximately 87.5% when the bottom-founded
breakwater is constructed close to the VLFS. Utsunomiya et al.
关16兴 demonstrated that the effect of the bottom-founded type
breakwater is remarkable in reducing the drift force acting on the
same VLFS as shown in Fig. 5.
MAY 2010, Vol. 63 / 030802-3
 Fig. 4 Application of VLFS as floating human habitation
Studies by these researchers showed that the bottom-founded
type breakwater is very effective in reducing the hydroelastic re-
sponse of the VLFS but such kind of breakwaters still possesses
some drawbacks that include massive construction material re-
quirements 共not cost effective兲, difficulty in construction, occupy-
ing precious sea space, difficulty in removing the breakwater if
the VLFS is to be relocated elsewhere, not environmentally
friendly because the breakwater disrupts the ocean current flow
and damages the seabed, and the reflected waves from the break-
water could result in coastal erosion.
3.2 Floating Breakwater. The floating boxlike breakwater
moored with mooring lines such as the one shown in Fig. 7 has
been proposed as an alternative to the conventional bottom-
founded type breakwater for protecting VLFS from a severe sea
condition. According to Headland 关18兴, the floating breakwater is
effective in reducing the wave forces provided that the wave pe-
riods are within 4–6 s. Floating breakwaters do not disrupt the
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ocean current flow and cause relatively little damage to the sea-
bed. Furthermore, the floating boxlike breakwater 共being the most
common type兲 constructed around the FFSF as shown in Fig. 2共c兲
could also function as collision and oil spill barriers.
The efficiency of the floating breakwater depends significantly
on several factors such as the width of the breakwater, mooring
line stiffnesses, and angles. Carver 关19兴 claimed that the effective-
ness of the floating breakwater in dissipating the wave energy
increases with its width to wavelength ratio. Ren and Wang 关20兴
discovered that the efficiency of the floating breakwater increases
with the mooring line stiffnesses and angles as well. Besides the
single-boxlike floating breakwater design, floating breakwaters of
different configurations, and cross-sections have been proposed in
order to enhance the efficiency of the breakwater in attenuating
the wave forces. Williams et al. 关21兴 investigated the wave reflec-
tion properties of a pair of long floating boxlike breakwaters 共Fig.
8共a兲兲 by employing the boundary integral equation method. They
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 Fig. 5 Comparison on hydroelastic responses of VLFS with and without bottom-founded breakwater under wave angle: „a…
␪ = 0, „b… ␪ = ␲ / 4, and „c… ␪ = ␲ / 2; water depth H = 20 m and wavelength ␭ / L = 0.125

found that the reflection coefficient of the breakwater depends
strongly on the breakwater’s width, draft, spacing and the mooring
line stiffness while the excess buoyancy of the breakwater is of
lesser importance. This dual pontoon breakwater was also found
to exhibit better wave reflection characteristics than a single pon-
toon structure possessing the same overall dimensions. Recently,
Dong et al. 关22兴 conducted experimental tests to compare the
wave transmission coefficient of a board-net type breakwater 共Fig.
8共b兲兲 with those of a conventional single-box type breakwater.
They concluded that the board-net type floating breakwater with a
wider width is not only effective in dampening the wave forces
but it is also capable of reducing the current velocity by 20%.
In order to investigate the effect of floating breakwater toward
the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS, Hong et al. 关23兴 per-
formed hydroelastic analyses on pontoon-type VLFS protected by
floating breakwater by using the higher order boundary element
method. They found that the hydroelastic response of the pontoon-
type VLFS under wavelength ␭ / L ⬍ 0.5 and water depth H
= 58.5 m could be reduced by 70% by using a single floating
breakwater with a height of 30 m. Tay et al. 关10兴 carried out
experimental tests and numerical analysis based on the Green’s

Fig. 6 Hydroelastic response of Mega-Float with and without bottom-

founded breakwater

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Fig. 7 Floating breakwater at Holy Loch, Scotland „photo
courtesy of Intermarine Ltd. Source: http://www.gssplant.
co.uk/download/breakwater.jpg…
function method to investigate the effect of floating breakwater in
reducing the hydroelastic responses and interactions of the two
floating storage modules placed side-by-side. Each floating stor-
age module model has a dimension of 2.44⫻ 1 ⫻ 0.2 m3. The
experimental tests involve a water depth H = 0.3 m and an inci-
dent wavelength of ␭ / L = 0.4. The hydroelastic deflections and
wave elevations surrounding the FFSF with and without floating
breakwater under the head sea condition are shown in Figs. 9 and
Fig. 8 Schematic diagram of „a… double-box breakwater †21‡
and „b… board-net breakwater †22‡
Fig. 9 Hydroelastic responses of floating fuel storage modules under head
sea condition with and without floating breakwater: water depth H = 0.3 m
and wavelength ␭ / L = 0.4
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10, respectively. The floating breakwater is found to be very ef-
fective in reducing the hydroelastic responses as well as the wave
runup along the sea channel formed by the storage modules. Re-
duction in the hydroelastic responses and wave elevations sur-
rounding the FFSF would also imply that the steady drift forces
acting on the floating modules could be reduced significantly.
3.3 Submerged Plate Antimotion Device. The use of break-
waters in attenuating the wave forces impacting on the VLFS is
relatively expensive and requires more time for construction. This
prompted engineers to invent antimotion devices that are attached
to the VLFS. The earliest form of antimotion devices is that of a
submerged horizontal or a vertical plate attached to the fore-end
of the VLFS as shown in Fig. 11. The submerged plate attach-
ments are able to dissipate the incident wave energy and reduce
the incident wavelength by generating breaking wave, wave fis-
sion, and vortices 共see the mechanism of wave energy dissipation
in Fig. 12兲. Lee et al. 关24兴 and Lee and Newman 关25兴 used the
composite grid method to study the hydrodynamic interaction be-
havior between the antimotion device and the VLFS. They found
that the vortex generated by the submerged plate as waves im-
pinge on the structure increases the added mass and damping
forces of the VLFS, thereby, decreasing the structural responses
significantly.
Ohta et al. 关26兴 performed hydroelastic analysis as well as ex-
perimental tests to investigate the effect of a submerged vertical
plate 共Fig. 11共a兲兲 toward reducing the hydroelastic deflection of
the VLFS. The reduction in the deflection was found to increase
with increasing submerged plate depth and decreasing wave-
length. Ohta et al. 关26兴 and Watanabe and co-workers 关27,28兴 also
carried out hydroelastic analyses on the VLFS with a submerged
horizontal plate attached at the fore-end of the structure 共Fig.
11共b兲兲. The submerged horizontal plate that protrudes from the
fore-end of the VLFS, i.e., type-A 共see Fig. 11共b兲共i兲兲 is found to be
more effective when compared with type-B and type-C antimotion
devices 共see Figs. 11共b兲共ii兲 and 11共b兲共iii兲, respectively兲. Ohta et al.
关26兴 found that the deflections of the VLFS with type-A sub-
merged horizontal plate reduce at certain wavelengths but the de-
flections of the VLFS are less affected by the depths of the float-
ing structure. Takagi et al. 关29兴 proposed a submerged box-shape
antimotion device attached to the fore-end of the floating structure
共see Fig. 13共a兲兲. They carried out hydroelastic analysis and
showed that the box-shape antimotion device is very effective in
reducing the deformation, shearing force, and bending moment of
the floating structure 共see Figs. 13共b兲–13共d兲兲. However, the depth
requirement of these box-shape and submerged plate antimotion
devices will result in an increase in the steady drift forces. Hence,
the size and cost of the mooring dolphin system will also increase
correspondingly. Takaki and Nishikawa 关30兴 investigated the hy-
drodynamic characteristic of the submerged horizontal plate and
concluded that the submerged plate that inclines at 4 deg from the
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 10 Wave elevation surrounding floating fuel storage facility with and without floating breakwater under different
wavelengths ␭ / L. Dimensions of floating module is 2.44Ã 1.0Ã 0.2 m3, width of floating breakwater is 0.05 m, head sea,
water depth H = 0.3 m

Fig. 11 „a… Submerged vertical plate antimotion device †26‡ and „b… submerged horizon-
tal plate antimotion devices †27,28‡

Fig. 12 Mechanism of wave energy dissipation by submerged horizontal plate †53‡

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 Fig. 13 „a… Box-shape antimotion device. Effect of box-shape antimotion device toward reduction in
„b… deflection, „c… shearing, and „d… bending moment. Head sea. Wave period T = 6 s. Water depth H
= 20 m.

horizontal x-axis 共see Fig. 14兲 is most effective in reducing the
steady drift forces and steady tilt moment induced on the VLFS.
The hydroelastic response of a circular VLFS could also be re-
duced by attaching a submerged annular plate to the perimeter of
the VLFS 关31兴.
Masanobu et al. 关32兴 proposed to use the curtain wall 共sub-
merged vertical plate兲 with slits and the inverted-L type antimo-
Fig. 14 Submerged inclined plate antimotion device
tion devices 共see Fig. 15兲 for reducing the hydroelastic response
of the VLFS. The purpose of the slits is to generate eddies so as to
dissipate wave energy and to attenuate the steady drift forces.
Figures 15共a兲 and 15共b兲 show, respectively, the comparison of the
maximum hydroelastic responses and the steady drift forces at the
fore-end of the VLFS with different curtain walls and inverted-L
type antimotion devices. The results show that the inverted-L type
antimotion device is the most effective in reducing the hydroelas-
tic response and the slits on the curtain wall do have a profound
effect in minimizing the steady drift forces. However, the effect of
the slits becomes minimal when the opening of the slits hslits ex-
ceeds 0.25 m. By using the curtain wall antimotion device with
appropriate slits opening hslits, they concluded that the increase in
steady wave drift force could be controlled while achieving a
satisfactory reduction in the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS.

Fig. 15 Effect of different antimotion devices toward „a… maximum hydroelastic response at fore-end of VLFS and „b…
maximum steady drift forces at fore-end of VLFS. Dimensions of VLFS is 200Ã 100Ã 3 m3 and water depth H = 20 m.

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 Fig. 16 Mechanism of breakwater with built-in OWC chamber „photo cour-
tesy of Voith Siemens Hydro. Source: http://www.powermag.com…
3.4 OWC Floating Breakwater. The floating breakwater
with a built-in OWC chamber was initially proposed as a wave
energy extraction device 共Fig. 16兲. Such a device comprises a
partially submerged and hollow structure/breakwater enclosing a
column of water that is exposed to the incident wave field through
the underwater opening. As waves impinge on the device, the
oscillation on the water surface will continuously compress and
decompress an air column in the chamber resulting in a pressure
difference. This pressure difference will then convert the rota-
tional energy to electricity via a turbine-driven generator.
The performance of the OWC chamber was found to be effec-
tive in absorbing the wave energy. This prompted researchers such
as Maeda et al. 关33兴 and Ikoma et al. 关34兴 to propose the use of the
OWC breakwater in reducing the hydroelastic responses of the
VLFS. Hong et al. 关35兴 proposed two different kinds of OWC
breakwater, namely, RTOWC-1 and RTOWC-2. It is to be noted
that RTOWC-2 has longer submerged horizontal plate as com-
pared with RTOWC-1 as shown in Fig. 17. The performance of
the OWC breakwater is affected by the damping parameter ␥,
which is related to the ability of the air chamber pressure in ab-
sorbing the incident wave energy. The hydroelastic response of the
VLFS could be reduced by using an appropriate value of ␥. It is to
be noted that ␥ may be determined by conducting a model test for
an oscillatory orifice flow or by using an iterative solver for non-
linear air pressure drop inside the OWC chamber. In general, the
performance of RTOWC-1 is better in reducing the hydroelastic
response of the VLFS when the wave period is small, i.e., T
= 6 s 共see Fig. 17兲. However, as the wave period increases to T
= 13 s 共see Fig. 18兲, RTOWC-2 was found to be more effective in
minimizing the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS. Figure 18
shows that as the wave period reaches T = 20 s, the effect of the
OWC floating breakwater becomes minimal with respect to reduc-
ing the response of the VLFS.
Hong and Hong 关36兴 proposed that the OWC floating breakwa-
ter be connected to the VLFS by using a pin-connector system
共see Fig. 19兲. They considered three different types of OWC
breakwater 共OWCBW兲, namely, OWCBW-1, OWCBW-2, and
OWCBW-3 with each OWC breakwater having different sub-
merged bottom horizontal plate lengths. They found that the
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OWCBW-3 with the longest submerged horizontal plate length
minimizes the responses at the fore-end of the VLFS most effec-
tively. Similarly as observed by Hong et al. 关35兴, the effect of the
OWC breakwater in reducing the hydroelastic response becomes
negligibly small when the incident wave period T ⬎ 15 s.
Maeda and co-workers 关37,38兴, Ikoma et al. 关39兴, Hong and
Kyoung 关40–42兴, and Hong et al. 关43兴 proposed an OWC antimo-
tion device attached to the fore-end of the VLFS 共see Fig. 20兲.
Such a device is similar to the submerged plate antimotion device
as presented in Sec. 3.3 but it could achieve more reduction in the
hydroelastic response due to the capability of the OWC air cham-
ber in absorbing wave energy. Kyoung and Hong 关42兴 investigated
the effect of varying parameters a 共draft of air chamber兲 and Lxa
共length of horizontal plate兲 in minimizing the hydroelastic re-
sponse of the VLFS as shown in Fig. 20. They found that the
performance of the OWC antimotion device in minimizing the
hydroelastic response of the VLFS increases with the draft a of
the OWC air chamber except when Lxa = 64.4 m. However, the
attachment of the OWC antimotion device at the fore-end of the
VLFS would result in an increase in the drift forces. Kyoung and
Hong 关42兴 also concluded that the OWC antimotion device with
a = 6 m and Lxa = 30 m is most effective in reducing both the
hydroelastic responses and drift forces of the VLFS.
Shigemitsu et al. 关44兴 investigated the hydroelastic response of
the Mega-Float attached with the three-continuous OWC antimo-
tion device. This antimotion device is arranged in five different
configurations as shown in Fig. 21. A submerged vertical plate is
attached to the OWC antimotion device in order to absorb the
wave energy by synchronizing the wave period with the OWC
antimotion device’s natural period. They found that the L-shape
arrangement 共A-3, see Fig. 21兲 is the most economical and effec-
tive configuration in reducing the hydroelastic response. Maeda
et al. 关38兴 found that a 50% reduction in the hydroelastic re-
sponses could be achieved by attaching the three-continuous
OWC antimotion device to the fore-end of the VLFS. The in-
crease in wave drift forces as waves impinge on the submerged
vertical plate could also be dampened by the OWC air chamber.
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 Fig. 17 Comparison on hydroelastic responses of VLFS with and without „a… RTOWC-1 breakwater and „b…
RTOWC-2 breakwater
3.5 Air-Cushion Type. VLFS for floating airports are sub-
jected to large hydroelastic motion due to wave slamming or air-
craft take-off/landing loads. The large displacements and drift
forces of the VLFS could be reduced by supporting the VLFS
with a pressurized air-cushion. The idea of taking advantage of the
air-cushion was inspired by marine aircraft vessels such as the
hovercraft and surface effect ship. The bottom hulls of VLFS are
raised above the water surface in order to reduce the surface in-
terference, water drag, and wave making, thereby, reducing the
hull resistance against waves and current flow. At the same time,
the entrapped air is compressed and this creates an air-cushion to
eliminate the friction between the bottom hull and the water sur-
face 关45兴. The air-cushion concept has also been used in support-
ing semisubmersibles and concrete gravity structures 关45兴. The
air-cushion supported structure appears to be more stable and re-
quires less mooring loads as compared with the conventional
semisubmersible. Qi 关46兴 attributed this to the ability of the air-
cushion in absorbing energy from the system thus minimizing the
responses of the semisubmersible.
Pinkster 关47兴 pioneered the use of air-cushion for reducing the
wave-induced responses of the VLFS. The model proposed by
Pinkster 关47兴 is shown in Fig. 22共a兲, which consists of side walls
extended vertically to a sufficient depth in order to retain the
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interior air. This entrapped air pressure is always greater than the
atmospheric pressure and thus provides static support 关25,48兴 and
helps in reducing the wave-induced moments and structural loads
of the floating structure. Pinkster and Meevers Scholte 关49兴 con-
ducted model tests and numerical computations based on the
three-dimensional potential theory to investigate the behavior of
an air-supported mobile offshore base 共MOB兲. They found that the
midship bending moment of the air-supported MOB is signifi-
cantly reduced as compared with the MOB without air-cushion.
Results from the model tests in irregular waves also indicate that
an air-supported MOB shows excellent motion characteristics in
extreme sea conditions with significant wave height in the region
of 15 m and mean period of around 20 s. Van Kessel and co-
worker 关50–52兴 and Ikoma and co-workers 关53,54兴 carried out
extensive studies on the effect of having different numbers of
air-cushion units 共see Figs. 22共c兲 and 22共d兲兲 for reducing the mo-
tions of the VLFS. Ikoma et al. 关53兴 investigated the hydroelastic
response of the VLFS with different numbers of air-cushion units
and concluded that the suitable numbers of air-cushion units differ
on a case-by-case basis depending on the wavelengths. Ikoma et
al. 关54兴 then investigated the hydroelastic responses and internal
forces of the air-cushion supported VLFS. The VLFS is 1000 m
long and consists of several 10–100 air-cushion units 共see Fig.
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 18 Comparison on hydroelastic responses of VLFS with and without OWC breakwater under wave period: „a… T
= 13 s and „b… T = 20 s
23兲. They found that the reduction in the hydroelastic deformation
of the air-cushion supported VLFS depends very much on the
air-cushion unit length to wavelength ratio, i.e., La / ␭. They ob-
served that the response of the air-cushion supported VLFS is
smaller compared with the conventional pontoon-type VLFS but
the response of the air-cushion supported VLFS is conversely en-
larged when La / ␭ falls in the range of 0.67⬍ La / ␭ ⬍ 1 共see Fig.
23兲.
3.6 Hybrid-Type Antimotion Device. The floating breakwa-
ter, submerged plate antimotion device, and OWC chamber could
be arranged and combined to achieve a better reduction in the
hydroelastic response of the VLFS under wave action. Shigemitsu
et al. 关44兴 proposed a hybrid wave load reducing system, which
consists of a floating breakwater placed in front of the ecofloat 共a
combination of seaport and airport with sustainable power plant兲
with an OWC antimotion device attached to the fore-end of the
floating structure 共see Fig. 24共a兲兲. By placing the floating break-
water in front of the VLFS, the significant wave height H1/3
= 12 m could be further reduced to H1/3 = 4 m before impacting
on the OWC antimotion device.
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The Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology in
Japan has also proposed the subplate VLFS, which consists of a
submerged plate antimotion device attached to the fore-end and
protected by submerged plate floating breakwaters as shown in
Fig. 24共b兲. A comprehensive feasibility studies on this subplate
VLFS were published in the 2001 OMAE conference 共Part I: Ba-
sic Concept of System by Takaki et al. 关55兴, Part II: Motion and
Mooring of Floating Breakwater by Kanda et al. 关56兴, and Part III:
Structural Response and Strength by Fujikubo et al. 关57兴兲. The
submerged plate floating breakwater is a framing system compris-
ing antimotion heaving plate attached at the bottom and two sub-
merged horizontal plates attached on top with floating circular
cylinder so as to provide buoyancy. As fast fluid velocity is gen-
erated at the upper submerged plates 共see Fig. 12兲, strong lifting
forces act on these plates and thus resulting in the floating break-
water heaving upwards. Hence, the circular cylinders and antimo-
tion heaving plates have to be installed to suppress the lifting
force. The floating breakwater is also able to transform the wave
energy into steady flow energy around the VLFS and thereby
making it environmentally friendly. Experimental and numerical
MAY 2010, Vol. 63 / 030802-11
 Fig. 19 Maximum deflection at fore-end of VLFS with and without „a… OWCBW1, „b… OWCBW2, and „c… OWCBW3

studies by Takaki et al. 关55兴 confirmed that this three-tier break-
water system has sufficient wave dissipating capacity and the per-
formance of the breakwater system depends significantly on its
submerged depth. The floating breakwater was also found to be
capable in reducing the steady drift forces, hence, keeping the
maximum mooring forces within the prescribed allowable force of
the mooring chain 关56兴. In view of the structural strength,
Fujikubo et al. 关57兴 found that the submerged plate antimotion
device attached to the VLFS is able to reduce the wave exciting
force for shorter waves and generates negative added mass 共a
virtual increase in static restoring force兲 for longer waves, both of
which are effective in reducing the elastic response and stresses
on the VLFS. Ikoma et al. 关34兴 suggested the use of a combination
of submerged vertical plates with wave energy absorbed air cham-
ber in order to reduce the elastic deformation of the VLFS. They
found that the wave drifting forces could be reduced if the wave
energy is effectively absorbed by the OWC system.
3.7 Auxiliary Attachments. The hydroelastic response in the
main floating structure could be reduced by using the auxiliary

Fig. 20 Hydroelastic response of VLFS with and without OWC antimotion device with
„a… a = 1.5 m, „b… a = 3.75 m, and „c… a = 6 m. ␭ / L = 0.2. Linear damping coefficient ␥
= 100.

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 Fig. 21 Hydroelastic response with and without three-continuous OWC an-
timotion device under wave angle „a… ␪ = 0, „b… ␪ = ␲ / 6, „c… ␪ = 2␲ / 3, and „d…
␪=␲/2

Fig. 22 Side elevation of air-cushion supported VLFS proposed by „a…

Pinkster et al. †47‡, „b… Pinkster and Meevers Scholte †49‡, „c… Van Kessel
†52‡, and „d… Ikoma et al. †53,54‡

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 Fig. 23 Hydroelastic response of air-cushion supported VLFS under wavelength „a… L / ␭ = 4.45, „b…
L / ␭ = 6.67, „c… L / ␭ = 7.91, and „d… L / ␭ = 9.0. Head sea.

attachments at the fore-end, at the rear-end, or at both ends of the
main floating structure as sacrificial structures to dissipate the
wave energy. Khabakhpasheva and Korobkin 关58兴 investigated the
use of rigid, semirigid, and hinge connectors for the auxiliary
beam attachment in reducing the hydroelastic response of an float-
ing elastic beam. They deduced that the semirigid mechanical
joint is more effective in reducing the hydroelastic responses
when compared with the rigid or simple hinge mechanical joint.
Kim et al. 关59兴 also investigated the influences of the hinged-
connected auxiliary plates with different stiffnesses and shapes
toward reducing the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS as shown
in Fig. 25. They found that the single hinged-connected auxiliary
plate with rounded shape and the two hinged-connected auxiliary
plates with rectangular shape are the most effective in reducing
the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS. Figure 25 also shows that
the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS could be reduced by using
the auxiliary plate with increasing stiffness. Wang et al. 关60兴 pro-
posed a novel way in reducing the hydroelastic response of a

Fig. 24 „a… VLFS with floating breakwater and OWC antimotion device and
„b… subplate VLFS

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 Fig. 25 Hydroelastic response of VLFS with hinged-connected articulated plate of different stiff-
nesses and shapes under „a… ␭ / L = 0.1 and „b… ␭ / L = 0.2. Water depth H = 30 m. Head sea.

Fig. 26 Normalized maximum deflection along the length of the floating beam system with various rotational stiffness
under „a… ␣ = 0.15 and ␤ = −0.23 and „b… ␣ = 0.20 and ␤ = −0.21. Structural length L = 300 m. Water depth H = 20 m.

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 Fig. 27 Hydroelastic response of the floating beam with optimum locations xc and optimum rotational stiffnesses ␰i for „a…
n = 3, „b… n = 5, „c… n = 7, and „d… n = 9. ␭ / L = 0.20. Structural length L = 300 m. Water depth H = 20 m.
longish VLFS by connecting auxiliary beams to the VLFS with
suitable rotational stiffness ␰ and location of mechanical joints xc.
They found that by using a semirigid connector with suitable ␰
connected at location xc of the floating beam system 共see Fig. 26兲,
the hydroelastic responses of the main floating beam could be
reduced significantly.
3.8 Connector System. VLFS is usually constructed in mod-
ules due to its massive size. The modules are fabricated in ship-
yard, and then connected on site by welding or rigid connectors.
Xia et al. 关61兴 carried out an analytical analysis on the hydroelas-
tic behavior of multiple connected articulated plates with vertical
and rotational springs. These springs are used to simulate the mo-
tion of the welded joints due to temporary fitting and matching of
the modules during the assembling process.
Instead of using rigid connections or welding, Fu et al. 关62兴 and
Wang et al. 关60兴 proposed the use of hinge or semirigid connectors
for reducing the hydroelastic response of the VLFS. Fu et al. 关62兴
investigated the hydroelastic response and bending moment of a
flexible floating interconnected plate with different types of con-
nectors and concluded that the hydroelastic response of the VLFS
is affected significantly by the stiffnesses of the semirigid connec-
tors. For determining the suitable rotational stiffness ␰ and num-
bers of semirigid connectors n in minimizing the hydroelastic re-
sponse of the VLFS, Wang et al. 关60兴 proposed the use of a
compliance parameter ␹ defined by
冕
L/2
1 very effective in reducing the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS
␹= 兩p兩兩w兩dx 共1兲
A␳L −L/2
where A is the wave amplitude, ␳ is the mass density of water, L
is the floating beam length, p is the hydrodynamic pressure, and w
is the deflection of the floating beam. Figure 27 shows the com-
parison of the hydroelastic response of a floating beam system
with multiple optimally designed semirigid connections and with
rigid connections. The optimal design refers to optimal rotational
stiffness ␰ and optimal locations of the connections. Wang et al.
关60兴 found that the semirigid connectors are more effective in
reducing the compliance as compared with the rigid or hinge con-
nectors. The compliance parameter was observed to reduce by
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using a moderate number of connections, i.e., n = 3 – 7. Further
increase in the number of connections does not lead to any sig-
nificant improvement in the reduction in the compliance param-
eter.
3.9 Other Methods for Mitigating Motion of VLFS. One of
the factors that influences the hydroelastic responses of the VLFS
is the dissipation of waves that is induced by the floating structure
and fluid interaction. The wave dissipation will result in a change
in hydrodynamic forces acting on the bottom hull of the VLFS. As
a result, when incident waves excite the fore-end of the VLFS, the
deformation of the structure will start to propagate over the float-
ing body. The deformation in the VLFS is not desirable because
the motion might affect the operability of the VLFS and a higher
strength material is required in order to withstand the stresses due
to the deformation 关63兴. In order to reduce the hydroelastic re-
sponses, Okada 关63兴 investigated VLFS of different edge shapes
and confirmed that the notched edge helps to reduce the propaga-
tion of deformations over the VLFS. The hydroelastic response of
the VLFS could also be suppressed by increasing the added damp-
ing of the VLFS. Damaran 关64兴 proposed a methodology for op-
timizing the shape of floating plates in order to maximize the
heave added damping.
Kim et al. 关59兴 also investigated the hydroelastic responses of
the VLFS with moonpools at the front end portion 共see Fig. 28兲.
They found that the transverse moonpools 共see Fig. 28共b兲兲 are
when the encountered wavelength is small. Besides that, they also
considered VLFS with different stiffnesses and found that the de-
formation of the VLFS could be reduced by increasing the stiff-
ness of the structure.
Takagi and Nagayasu 关65兴 used a ray approach to evaluate the
motion level of a matlike VLFS and found that there is a possi-
bility in reducing the hydroelastic motion of the VLFS by attach-
ing a home-plate on the weather side of the structure.
The rolling motion of a longish VLFS could be reduced by
using bilge keel attachments such as those used for floating pro-
duction storage and offloading 共FPSO兲s 关66兴. The pressure field
near the bilge keel area is modified by the vortices generated by
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 28 VLFS with „a… longitudinal moonpools, „b… transverse moonpools, and „c… dif-
ferent stiffnesses „I = second moment of inertia…
the bilge keel, hence mitigating the rolling response of the floating
body.
Responses of VLFS used as floating wind farms are induced by
moving/centrifugal loads due to the rotating blades of the wind
turbines. Vibration absorber such as the semi-active absorbers,
which consists of spring-mass-damper systems 关67兴 could be used
to avoid resonance due to the coincidence of moving loads with
the natural frequency of the floating structures. The damping force
generated by the dynamic damper system can be controlled by an
electric valve and is changed according to the hull vibration and
the moving mass motion.
4 Concluding Remarks
Presented herein is a literature review on the design and perfor-
mance of antimotion structures/devices for VLFS. The analytical,
numerical, and experimental methods used in studying the effect
of these antimotion structures/devices toward reducing the hy-
droelastic responses of the VLFS were also reviewed. The con-
ventional bottom-founded breakwater was found to be most effec-
tive in mitigating the hydroelastic response of the VLFS but it is
expensive to build and not environmentally friendly. A significant
reduction in the hydroelastic response of the VLFS could also be
obtained by using the floating-type breakwater provided that the
draft of the breakwater and the width to wavelength ratio are
sufficiently large. Floating breakwaters with built-in OWC cham-
bers could also attenuate the wave forces significantly due to the
capability of the OWC air chambers in absorbing the wave energy.
The submerged plate antimotion devices attached to the fore-
end of the VLFS can reduce the hydroelastic response, especially
if the submerged vertical plate and the box-shape antimotion de-
vice have sufficient depth. However, the depth requirements for
the latter would lead to an increase in the steady drift forces.
Excessive displacements and drift forces of the Mega-Float due
to wave slamming and aircraft take-off/landing loads could be
reduced by supporting the VLFS with pressurized air-cushion.
The reduction in the hydroelastic deformation of the air-cushion
supported VLFS depends very much on the air-cushion unit length
to wavelength ratio.
The hybrid-type antimotion device comprising floating break-
water, submerged plate antimotion device and OWC chamber
have synergetic features to achieve a better reduction in the hy-
droelastic response of the VLFS as well as in absorbing the steady
drift force energy via the OWC chambers.
The hydroelastic response of the VLFS could also be reduced
by using auxiliary attachments at the fore-end, or rear-end or at
both ends of the main floating structure as sacrificial structure to
dissipate the wave energy. A novel way in reducing the hydroelas-
tic response of a longish VLFS is proposed through the design of
suitable rotational stiffness and location of the connectors.
Future studies on antimotion devices may include 共a兲 the effect
of variable water depth and/or wave short-crestedness on hy-
droelastic response of VLFS equipped with antimotion devices,
共b兲 on-sea experiment for validation of the effectiveness of an-
Applied Mechanics Reviews
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timotion devices in real environmental conditions, and 共c兲 the ef-
fect of slowly varying drift forces on the hydroelastic response of
VLFS equipped with antimotion devices
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