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Naval Engineers Look on the Fec-Concept and Other Vlfs- Structures

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Naval Engineers Look on the Fec-Concept and Other Vlfs- Structures Opinnäytetyö NAVAL ENGINEERS LOOK ON THE FEC-CONCEPT AND OTHER VLFS- STRUCTURES Tuomas Wasén Kone- ja tuotantotekniikka 2011 TURUN TIIVISTELMÄ AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU Kone- ja tuotantotekniikka Tuomas Wasén Laiva- ja venetekniikan insinöörin katsaus FEC-konseptiin ja muihin suuriin kelluviin rakenteisiin. Laivatekniikka Pentti Häkkinen 05/2011 Tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkittiin Turun ammattikorkeakoulun ja arkkitehti Aaro Söderlundin yhteistyössä kehittämää FEC-konseptia; suurta kelluvaa kaupunkirakennetta, jota suunnitellaan rakennettavaksi Tianjiniin, Kiinaan. Työn alussa on selvitetty FEC:n taustoja ja toimintaperiaatteita. Tämän jälkeen jaotellaan erilaiset kelluvat rakenteet kategorioihin ja tarkastellaan rakennettuja sekä suunniteltuja referenssejä. Seuraavaksi katsotaan hieman laivanrakennuksesta tuttuja vakavuuslaskuja ja esitetään mahdollinen kelluvuusratkaisu. Työn lopussa tarkastellaan erilaisia elämänkaaritilanteita ja pohditaan katastrofitilanteiden mahdollisia vaikutuksia FEC:n turvallisuuteen. Viimeisessä kappaleessa käydään läpi lisäselvitystä vaativat kohdat ja pohditaan hieman FEC:n erilaisia mahdollisuuksia ja ongelmakohtia. Työtä on tehty käyttäen hyväksi löydettyjä tutkimuksia ja artikkeleita, laiva-alalta tuttuja sääntöjä sekä opiskelutovereiden ja Pentti Häkkisen & Aaro Söderlundin tarjoamia näkökulmia aiheeseen. Hakusanat: Kelluvat rakenteet, VLFS Säilytyspaikka: Turun ammattikorkeakoulun kirjasto TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES ABSTRACT Mechanical engineering Tuomas Wasén Naval engineers look on the FEC-concept and other VLFS-structures Naval architecture Pentti Häkkinen 05/2011 This bachelor’s thesis studies the FEC-concept – a large floating city structure, planned to be placed in Tianjin, China - developed by Turku University of Applied Sciences and architect Aaro Söderlund. At the beginning, we take a look on the FEC and the idea behind it as well as some of the basic principles of it. After this, we divide the floating structures in to categories and take a look at the built and developed references. Next we introduce some basic stability calculations and present a possible solution for the displacement. At the end we view different lifespan issues and assess the possible effects of a catastrophe situation on the safety of the FEC. Last chapter takes a look on some of the issues that need more research and also gives some insights on the possible problems and possibilities of the FEC. The thesis was done by using various material gathered along the way, regulations used by the naval industry and also the insights given by fellow students and Pentti Häkkinen & Aaro Söderlund. Keywords: Floating structures, VLFS Deposit at: CONTENTS 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Climate change 2 1.2 Floating EcoCity 3 1.3 Thesis’ goals 7 1.4 Scope of the thesis 7 1.5 Methods 8 2 Floating structures 8 2.1 Built references 10 2.1.1 Floating bridges 10 2.1.2 Floating docks, piers and container terminals 10 2.1.3 Floating storage facilities 11 2.1.4 Floating emergency bases 12 2.1.5 Floating plants 12 2.1.6 Floating entertainment facilities 13 2.1.7 Floating airports and mobile offshore bases 14 2.2 Planned references 14 3 Hull structure 17 3.1 Classification 17 3.2 Stability of the FEC 20 3.2.1 FEC displacement 21 3.2.2 Ballast tanks 23 4 Lifespan 24 4.1 Maintenance 24 4.2 Docking 24 4.2.1 Transporting 25 4.2.2 Expansions 25 5 Extraordinary situations 26 5.1 Tsunamis 26 5.1.1 Resident safety 28 5.2 Collisions and leakage 28 6 Conclusions 29 6.1 Further research 29 6.2 Summary 30 7 List of references 32 APPENDICES FIGURES Figure 1 Intersection of the hexagonal platform structure 4 Figure 2 Hexagonal caissons (Söderlund 16.12.2010, personal notification) 4 Figure 3 Upper platform with the biospheric tent (Söderlund 16.12.2010, personal notification) 6 Figure 4 Yumemai bridge (© All rights reserved by ingis_jpn) 10 Figure 5 Floating dock in Sevastopol (© George Chernilevsky) 11 Figure 6 Kamigoto oil storage facility 11 Figure 7 Brahmaputra Response Base (© Ritu Raj Konwar) 12 Figure 8 Akademi Lomonosov (© Reuters) 13 Figure 9 Floating Jumbo restaurant in the Philippines 13 Figure 10 The Mega-Float 14 Figure 11 Shimizu Corporations Green Float 15 Figure 12 Shimizu Corporations "Pyramid City in the Air" 16 Figure 13 Structural design flow of VLFS (Fujikubo 2004, 204) 19 Figure 14 Basic principle of ship stability 21 2 1 Introduction This bachelor’s thesis was done as a part of Turku University of Applied Sciences Floating EcoCity –project. It studies the different technical requirements of a very large floating structure or a Mega-Float as it’s commonly referred as. The main reasons for developing floating cities is simple: due to the population growth land areas are under heavy use and therefore land value has risen dramatically. Especially large coastal cities are put in a tough spot when the need for expansion rises. For a long time the solution has been vertical; building skyscrapers and other tall buildings has been the easiest way. Thanks to technical advancements over the past few decades ocean colonization has become both technically and financially possible. 1.1 Climate change Climate change has been a major focus of global attention for the past decade. Global warming has caused the sea levels to rise in the 20th century at the average speed of 1,7 ± 0,5 mm y-1 (Solomon, S et al. 2007, 409). Reports also show that as we have come closer to the 21st century, the rate at which sea level has risen has increased; estimations based on satellite altimetry suggest that the sea level rise has been as high as 3,1 ± 0,5 mm y-1, but tide gauges show a similar decadal pattern in the sea level diagrams since the 1950s, so it still remains to be seen is it a matter of decadal variability or a change in long term. What also needs to be noted is, that satellite altimetry is a relatively new method of measuring. Before the early 1990s man relied solely on tide gauges, so the results aren’t entirely comparable. Sea level rise varies around the world. In some regions the sea level rise is several times the average rate, where as in other regions the sea levels have dropped. Areas with low coastlines and strong interannual variability in sea levels are under heavy observation. The Netherlands suffer every year from flooding, and the Maldives are in danger to be completely wiped out. If sea levels reach the 0,44 m above 1990s sea 3 levels, as suggested by scientists, land reclamation and building dams just isn’t efficient any more. 1.2 Floating EcoCity Tianjin is a harbour city of Beijing on the delta of Huang He in China. It is one of the fastest developing industrial regions in the world, with an annual growth of c. 15% in 2009. The area is populated by 12M inhabitants and it is one of the three central areas of development in modern China, along with Hong Kong and Shanghai, thus it provides an excellent test ground for urban architecture and city development. (Söderlund & Kääriä) The Tianjin area faces many different challenges – both human and natural. Soaring land prices, pollution and ever-growing population are just the newest additions to the list of challenges, which is already filled with various natural problems such as sandstorms, floods, tides and even earthquakes and tsunamis. The water is polluted and acid rains pour down frequently. Investors are already looking for new solutions. The Floating EcoCity –concept (FEC- concept) is aimed to ease these problems and help Tianjin to continue its growth. By building floating islands, the city would be able to expand in a whole new way. The skills to build something this big are already there within the shipbuilding world. After all, the worlds largest cruise ships aren’t much different to the FEC – basically only the propulsion is missing. The FEC consists of two basic units, the hexagonal platforms and the EcoFlo Vessels. The latter ones would be newbuilt, but also Malaccamax-size (470*65*20 m) tankers could be used in case of recession. Both, the hexagonal platforms and the EcoFlo Vessels, would have central parks framed by the apartments and covered by a tent, which creates its own mini-biosphere for the FEC. 4 Figure 1 Intersection of the hexagonal platform structure Figure 1 explains a little about the structure of the FEC, when it is structured of the hexagonal caissons. The whole structure would stand on six separate caissons, which would provide the buoyancy. On top of that, there would be the lower platform with all the storage and maintenance space. And on top of that there would be the upper platform, with the apartments and the central park. Figure 2 Hexagonal caissons (Söderlund 16.12.2010, personal notification) 5 Figure 2 shows the positioning of six hexagonal caissons below the lower platform. Hexagonal platforms would be standing on six smaller hexagonal caissons, which would offer unmanned storage space for pumps, batteries and other necessities. Each caisson would have a column on its weight point, which would be in line with the columns that support the biospheric tent. The caissons would be detachable for maintenance situations; the FEC would be designed so that it would still survive if one of the caissons should be removed or damaged. Between the caissons there would be “ButterFlexes” that absorb and collect the energy caused by the waves and the movement of the caissons. The FEC is also aims to tackle the ecological problems by being CO2-negative, with the central parks greenery purifying the air, water and soil in addition to producing oxygen. The improvement of water quality would be handled by aquatic macrophyte farms, which would locate under the pontoons next to the caissons. 6 Figure 3 Upper platform with the biospheric tent (Söderlund 16.12.2010, personal notification) The infrastructure would be built on two different platforms set on top of each other.
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