Research on Evaluation of Separating Characteristics of “Universal Block Floating System”

Abstract The Universal Block Floating System (UBFS) is a new floating platform technology developed to meet a wide variety of needs in the future for floating architectures. The system can be used to construct floating platforms with various planar dimensions and values of buoyancy by simply stacking floating blocks with a few kinds of shapes. The upper and lower stacked blocks are interlocked by special fitting mechanism on the block surface and the compressive forces generated by dead load and buoyancy. In this structural system, external forces like waves may cause separation of the blocks and deformation of the floating platform, so the floating structure might be destabilized and the building on the floating platform might be affected. This paper discusses the tank tests using a scaled model, which are conducted to clarify the conditions of separation into individual blocks, as well as the development of an analysis model and the comparative verification between the results of the tank tests and those of the numerical simulations by the model.