Morison's Equation

OrcaFlex calculates hydrodynamic loads on lines, 3D buoys and 6D buoys using an extended form of
Morison's Equation. See Morison, O'Brien, Johnson and Schaaf.
Morison's equation was originally formulated for calculating the wave loads on fixed vertical cylinders.
There are two force components, one related to water particle acceleration (the 'inertia' force) and one related
to water particle velocity (the 'drag' force). For moving objects, the same principle is applied, but the force
equation is modified to take account of the movement of the body.
The extended form of Morison's equation used in OrcaFlex is:
F
w
= (.a
w
+ C
a
..a
r
) + ..C
d
.A.V
r
|V
r
|
where
F
w
is the fluid force
is the mass of fluid displaced by the body
a
w
is the fluid acceleration relative to earth
C
a
is the added mass coefficient for the body
a
r
is the fluid acceleration relative to the body
is the density of water
V
r
is the fluid velocity relative to the body
C
d
is the drag coefficient for the body
A is the drag area
The term in parentheses is the inertia force, the other term is the drag force. The drag force is familiar to most
engineers, but the inertia force can cause confusion.
The inertia force consists of two parts, one proportional to fluid acceleration relative to earth (the Froude-
Krylov component), and one proportional to fluid acceleration relative to the body (the added mass
component).
To understand the Froude-Krylov component, imagine the body being removed and replaced with an
equivalent volume of water. This water would have mass and be undergoing an acceleration a
w
. It must
therefore be experiencing a force .a
w.
Now remove the water and put the body back: the same force must now act on the body. This is equivalent to
saying that the Froude-Krylov force is the integral over the surface of the body of the pressure in the incident
wave, undisturbed by the presence of the body. (Note the parallel with Archimedes' Principle: in still water,
the integral of the fluid pressure over the wetted surface must exactly balance the weight of the water
displaced by the body.)
The added mass component is due to the distortion of the fluid flow by the presence of the body. A simple
way to understand it is to consider a body accelerating through a stationary fluid. The force required to
sustain the acceleration may be shown to be proportional to the body acceleration and can be written:
F = (m + C
a
.).a
where
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F is the total force on the body
m is the mass of the body
(C
a
.) is a constant related to the shape of the body and its displacement
a is the acceleration of the body.
Another way of looking at the problem is in terms of energy. The total energy required to accelerate a body in
a stationary fluid is the sum of the kinetic energy of the body itself, and the kinetic energy of the flow field
about the body. These energies correspond to the terms (m.a) and C
a
..a respectively.
Trapped Water
The term (C
a
.) has the dimensions of mass and has become known as the added mass. This is an
unfortunate name which has caused much confusion over the years. It should not be viewed as a body of
fluid trapped by and moving with the body. Some bodies are so shaped that this does occur, but this trapped
water is a completely different matter. Trapped water occurs when the body contains a closed flooded space,
or where a space is sufficiently closely surrounded to prevent free flow in and out. Trapped water should be
treated as part of the body: the mass of the trapped water should be included in the body mass, and its volume
should be included in the body volume.
For a more complete description of Morison's equation and a detailed derivation of the added mass
component see Barltrop and Adams, 1991 and Faltinsen, 1990.
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