Wind Effect Estimation in Side by Side Offloading Operation for FLNG and LNG Carrier Ships

Liquid Natural Gas resource development is often conducted worldwide. Recently the drilling area has gradually expanded from shallow sea area to the deep ocean. A Floating LNG facility (FLNG) and a LNG carrier ship (LNG) are assumed to operate in the open sea expected to wind, waveand current. In this situation, an operational capability evaluation of the LNG would be needed to grasp the operational weather limitation. The effect of each weather element, i.e. wind, waveand current, giving manoeuvring effect to ships, is expected to assess exactly as external loads. In such a situation, wind interaction effect under the operating condition that a FLNG and a LNG are in same closed area is not clearly understood. This paper treats and proposes one estimation method of wind load for the operation of side-by-side offloading including interaction effect of a FLNG and a LNG. The proposed wind load estimation method based on the wind tunnel experiments represents the shielding effectof the LNG behind the FLNG. Operational assessment on ship manoeuvring under strong wind is calculated using the proposed wind load method in the final stage.