A Study on Stability of Floating Architecture and its Design Methodology
Toshio Nakajima, Yuka Saito and Motohiko Umeyama
Herein, the authors describe an overall approach to the architectural design of floating structures such as floating houses. The primary aim of this study is not to present a method for stabilizing floating structures, but rather to provide a design synthesis method for use when designing such structures. More specifically, we propose an integrated procedure for use at the preliminary design stage of such structures that systematically facilitates their overall design. As an inclining platform could endanger the people on board, it is necessary to determine an adequate metacentric height in order to prevent such occurrences. This measurement, which is defined as the distance between the center of gravity of a floating structure and its metacenter, quantifies the initial static stability of a floating body. Based on this idea, we consider the associated problems as well as the methods used in practical procedures, and combine them to introduce a unique approach called the “required GM” method. We also discuss the different and various aspects used in basic configuration determinations of floating architectural structures, such as the aspect of static stability and the overall process used at the conceptual design stage. In addition, illustrative examples of an idealized floating platform embodying the simplest possible structures are provided to illustrate these points.
KEYWORDS: Floating house, Sustainable, Natural hazard, Flood house, Climate change
Dr. Toshio Nakajima has two professional backgrounds: one is architectural design and the other, offshore engineering. He is a Registered Architect in Japan and gained a doctorate from Dept. of Naval Architecture at the University of Tokyo. He is a specialist in the fields of dynamics regarding offshore floating platforms as well as mooring systems in the fields of ocean engineering. He has worked at the Kiyonori Kikutake Architect & Associates as an architectural designer and was a senior researcher at the Sumitomo Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., among other positions. He has published numerous research papers especially on a behavior of semi-submersible platforms in waves over the last 40 years and was awarded “The Prize for the Most Remarkable Research Paper” from the Society of Naval Architects of Japan (SNAJ) in 1986. His recent works are related to a semi-floating “Sustainable Water City” and one of his papers was selected as one of top 100 ground-breaking papers by Springer-Nature in 2015.