Page 238 - Practical Design Ships and Floating Structures

Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures 213
You-Sheng Wu, Wei-Cheng Cui and Guo-Jun Zhou (Eds)
0 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

SIMULATION STUDY ON COASTAL ECOSYSTEM
AROUND A VERY LARGE FLOATING
STRUCTURE IN TOKYO BAY

D. Kitazawa', M. Fujino* and S. Tabeta'

'Department of Environmental and Ocean Engineering, Graduate School of
Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan
'Institute of Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.
University of Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT
To realize a very large floating structure (VLFS), it is indispensable to examine various effects of the
VLFS on marine environment. For environmental impact assessment in physical, chemical, and
biological aspect, numerical simulation by means of the coastal ecosystem model is one of the useful
tools. In the present paper, real time simulation is conducted for reproducing the marine environment
around a Mega-Float model, which was moored off Oppama in Tokyo Bay from 1996 to 1998. As a
result, it can be said that the impacts of the Mega-Float model are small because the size of the floating
structure is comparatively small and exchange of seawater is effective in the sea area. Further, through
this study. the present states of numerical simulation and its future assignments are discussed.

KEYWORDS

VLFS, Environmental impact assessment, Numerical simulation, Coastal ecosystem model, Real time
simulation, Mega-Float model, Tokyo Bay

1 INTRODUCTION
To realize a very large floating structure (VLFS), it is indispensable to examine various effects of the
VLFS on marine environment. Technological Research Association of Mega-Float (TRAMF), which
was organized to promote research and development of the VLFS, moored a large floating offshore
structure (hereafter called Mega-Float model) off Oppama in Tokyo Bay from 1996 to 1998 (Phase-1).
In this project, a group of university researchers and the TRAMF cooperated to measure water
temperature and salinity continuously around the Mega-Float model (Fujino et al. (1997)). Aside from
this measurement, TRAMF carried out meteorological observations, water and benthic quality
examinations (TRAMF (1998)). After the Phase-I project, larger floating structure was moored in the
same sea area from 1999 to 2000 (Phase-2), and water quality around the floating structure was
examined (Fujino et al. (2001)).