Ocean Platform Motion Control

The NASA innovation leverages existing ballast fluid of a maritime structure to proactively mitigate undesirable resonant response characteristics of the platform or vessel. Essentially, this innovation couples water ballast as a functional working mass to the dynamic motion of a floating structure in order to provide passive motion management of the primary structure. The system can be implemented pre-design or post manufacture. The systems are simple and are easily manufactured, transported, and implemented onto a primary structure. The NASA technology has been designed (patents applied for) for a range of platform designs and can be further customized depending on the final application requirements. Prototypes have been built and tested in a wind-wave tank test bed at the University of Maine. NASA engineers have developed a new approach to mitigating unwanted motion in floating structures. Ideally suited to applications including offshore wind energy platforms and barges, the innovation uses water ballast as a motion damping fluid. Various designs have been developed to suit a number of different configurations depending on the specific applications. To date, target applications have included floating offshore wind energy platforms and service barges. Prototypes have been developed and tested as part of DOE’s ATLANTIS floating offshore wind energy development program and have demonstrated highly effective control of the platform motion induced by wind and wave action. This innovation builds upon extensive expertise of the NASA innovators in developing novel vibration and motion damping control methods for various NASA large-scale structural applications.