Network dynamic stability of floating airport based on amplitude death

• Floating airport coupled with flexible connectors can be viewed as a dynamic network.
• The work provides a typical application of network theory in the marina engineering.
• The special dynamic behavior of amplitude death (weak oscillatory state) is studied.
• The new methodology can be extensible to many problems with network alike.

A large scale floating airport, consisting of multi-modules coupled with flexible connectors, can be viewed as a dynamic network. The special dynamic behavior of amplitude death, a suppressed weak oscillatory state, is studied by using the nonlinear network theory. A generalized network model is established for the floating airport, and an analytical solution of its response is formulated. A semi-analytical method is employed to analyze the amplitude death phenomenon and then a critical condition is derived. The parameter domain for the onset of the amplitude death is obtained by numerical simulations which match well with the analytical results. The work provides a typical application of the network theory in the marina engineering and illustrates the importance of amplitude death mechanism in the stability design of very large floating structures.