CFD Modeling of Moonpool Behavior

Vessels equipped with a moonpool are frequently used in the offshore oil and gas industry. They are used to lay pipelines, risers, structures, cables, and for drilling. These operations are generally possible if the water motion inside the moonpool remains within workable limits. Water oscillations are generated by waves and forward speed. The water motion in the moonpool is characterized by two dominant modes, sloshing and pumping. Both modes are usually present during sailing, while during installation phase, where the vessel is kept in a fixed position, the pumping mode is dominant and sloshing is negligible. The behavior of the water column in the moonpool can either be predicted numerically (CFD and potential code) or by model tests. In this work we focus on modeling the behavior of the DCV Aegir moonpool in operational conditions via CFD. The work presented in this paper consist on the validation of the available experimental results. Results show that CFD is an adequate tool to predict the pumping mode of the water inside the moonpool and outperforms predictions of potential codes.