ON THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A CONCRETE BARGE MOUNTED ON A SUBMERSIBLE BARGE IN WAVES

A new plant construction method for providing power plants, petrochemical processing plants, etc. in remote areas of developing countries is now being considered. The method has three processes; 1. Building of a concrete barge with plant facilities ; 2. Towing the plant barge to the site; 3. Setting the plant barge in position. There are two methods of towing a plant barge to its destination. One is towing the plant barge directly and the other is transporting the plant barge mounted on a submersible barge . For the purpose of estimating the design wave loads on a plant barge during a dry-towing project, experiments have been performed with a model plant barge and three model submersible barges. The experiments were made in regular wave conditions and with variable wave lengths, wave height, wave direction and towing speed.