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.