Multi-body hydrodynamics coupled with tank sloshing for FLNG and LNG ships side-by-side system

This paper addresses the multi-floating bodies motions in waves associated with the internal tank sloshing problem, which aims to simulate the operation scenario of a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) ship offloading to an LNG ship in a side-by-side configuration. The numerical simulations are conducted using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) solver executed via open-source code DualSPHysics packages, which is coupled with the open-source mooring analysis tool MoorDyn to account for mooring forces on the floating body. First, the wave-induced motion responses of an FLNG ship are analyzed in both head and beam wave conditions, with consideration of the tank sloshing and single-point mooring effects. Then, the hydrodynamic interactions between the moored FLNG ship and a free-floating LNG carrier in a side-by-side arrangement are simulated. The results of ship motions, mooring line forces, and tank sloshing loads in different conditions, such as different tank filling rates, wave heading angles, ship speeds, and mooring configurations, are discussed.