Comparative study on a jacket launching operation in South China Sea

Launching is an essential initial operation for mega deep-water jackets. The forces and motion responses of key points were measured during such a launching operation, which can serve as a benchmark for the experimental and numerical results and hence can provide more confidence in following operations. This paper presents a comprehensive study in which field measurements, numerical and experimental results are compared to investigate the dynamic process of launching a mega jacket. The differences between the field measurement data and experimental results are investigated. The sensitivity analyses including the barge trim and draft and the friction coefficient along the skid-ways are performed using the calibrated numerical model. Attempts are made to clarify the effect of the drag coefficient in the Froude-similarity models through a comparison of the scaled model tests and the specific numerical simulations.