Barge Pile Systems for Seabed Anchoring and Swell Damping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing barges used for laying underwater pipelines face challenges when anchoring on rocky or coral seabeds, requiring significant hull reinforcement and struggling to maintain list and trim due to uneven seabed profiles.
Innovation Solution
A barge design utilizing battery-powered systems with hydraulic and pneumatic circuits to lower and raise support stacks, allowing the hull to avoid direct contact with the seabed, thereby reducing the need for reinforcement and enabling efficient grounding and ungrounding while damping swell effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the barge is grounded directly on the seabed, then the barge can be anchored on rocky or coral seabeds, but the hull requires considerable reinforcement or double bottom to prevent damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces piles as intermediary elements between the barge hull and the seabed. These piles make contact with the rocky or coral seabed first, transferring the loading force away from the hull. The hydraulic circuit then raises the hull above the water surface to avoid direct contact with the seabed, eliminating the need for extensive hull reinforcement while maintaining anchoring capability on difficult seabeds
2Ease of operation
If the barge is grounded directly on the seabed, then the barge can be anchored, but it cannot easily maintain its initial list and trim regardless of the seabed profile
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a hydraulic circuit that can dynamically adjust the height of the hull relative to the water surface and seabed contact points. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the barge to maintain its initial list and trim by raising or lowering the hull as needed, regardless of irregularities in the seabed profile, thereby resolving the contradiction between anchoring capability and adaptability
3Object-affected harmful factors
If self-elevating barges use piles to raise the hull above water, then the hull avoids wave and current effects, but very high lifting powers are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by first making the piles contact the seabed to stabilize the barge position, then using the hydraulic circuit to raise the hull above water. This sequence allows the system to achieve hull elevation with moderate power requirements because the piles provide initial structural support, eliminating the need for extremely high lifting powers required by traditional self-elevating barges
4Reliability
If the piles are lowered quickly to contact the seabed, then the heave phenomenon is limited, but the hydraulic circuit must operate efficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes a hydraulic circuit with water-filled chambers and pistons to control pile movement. This hydraulic system provides efficient, controlled motion that can rapidly lower piles to contact the seabed, limiting heave phenomenon, while maintaining operational efficiency through the inherent speed and control characteristics of hydraulic actuation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for safe and efficient anchoring without damaging the hull, maintaining barge stability and trim, and requires less energy compared to traditional self-elevating barges, with the hydraulic circuit being non-polluting and low-energy consumption.
Implementation Method 1
a hydraulic circuit for lowering the pile out of the barge in order to bring it into contact with the seabed
Implementation Method 2
a pneumatic circuit to allow the effects of the swell on the barge to be absorbed
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The invention relates to a barge (2) comprising a hull (4) resting on a plurality of pile systems (6) for beaching the barge and absorbing the effects of the swell, each pile system comprising a pile (8) forming a support capable of being lowered out of the hull and of being raised inside the hull, a hydraulic circuit for lowering the pile out of the barge in order to bring it into contact with the seabed (10) when the barge is beached and for raising it inside the latter when the barge is floated, and a pneumatic circuit for allowing the effects of the swell on the barge to be absorbed.