On Study of Nonlinear Network Dynamics of Flexibly Connected Multi-Module Very Large Floating Structures

The very large floating structure (VLFS) designed for a floating airport and giant operating platform on sea consists of multiple floating modules with flexible connectors, which is a typical nonlinear dynamic network involving complex collective dynamics. The study focuses on the typical behaviors of amplitude death (AD) that is significantly important to the global dynamic stability of the VLFS system. A nonlinear dynamic model for a chain-formed VLFS with piecewise-nonlinear-coupling is developed. We investigate the onset of amplitude death in design parametric domain, and discuss the mechanism of the phenomenon corresponding to the coupling strengths. The numerical results show that by varying coupling strengths, a weak periodic oscillation can be rapidly bifurcated into high-order periodic or chaotic motions with large oscillations. The amplitude death is illustrated in the parametric domain of coupling strengths, which provide a new insight and theoretical guidelines for the VLFS safety design.