Obiettivo
An offshore floating LNG storage terminal is proposed in which a large hull is moored to the seabed by means of a turret mooring system that allows the terminal to weather-vane freely in accordance with the prevailing weather conditions. The terminal will receive LNG from normal LNG carriers that berth alongside the terminal; such operation requires calm sea conditions to allow the offloading. This proposal offers such facility in an innovative way by designing the hull and mooring system such that transv erse thrusters are able to rotate the hull so that it is held transversely to the direction of the prevailing seas, so that the hull acts like a breakwater and creates a calmer area in its lee, in which the LNG carrier berths, discharges and unmoors. To further dampen the seas in the lee of the terminal, the hull will be equipped with large horizontal and properly optimised skirts, at keel level. The effectiveness of this has already been proven in principle for a semi-protected sea area on the new floa ting quay in Monaco harbour, which was recently designed and deployed by DORIS Engineering but the design needs to be advanced to a further level, to enable feasibility to be proven for offshore application. The proposed concept will give advantages to th e European industry competing at international level to provide new solutions for importing LNG in densely populated areas in a safe, economical and efficient manner. The project is fully relevant to Objective 2 of the work programme "Advanced design and production techniques", in particular research domain 2.2.
Parole chiave
Argomento(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
FP6-2003-TRANSPORT-3
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinatore
PARIS
Francia