A Numerical Study on the Response of a Very Large Floating Airport to Airplane Movement

Numerical simulations were generated to investigate the response of a floating airport to airplane movement using the nonlinear shallow water equations of velocity potential for water waves interacting with a floating thin plate. First, in the 1D calculations, the airplanes were B747 and B737. At touch-and-go, when the airplane speed is closer to the water wave speed, even B737 produced large waves based on the resonance. The impacts due to both the touchdown and leaving of the airplanes generated other forward and backward waves. At landing, when the airplane speed approached the water wave speed, a forced wave was generated and amplified, with many free waves ahead. At takeoff, a wave clump, generated shortly after starting to run, propagated in front of the airplanes. Although the wave height increased from superposition with the reflected waves, the wave reflectance was reduced by lowering the flexural rigidity near the airport edge. Second, in the 2D calculations, B787 performed landing and takeoff. When the still water depth is shallower, a grid-like pattern was formed at the floating airport and appeared more remarkably in landing than in takeoff. The effective amplification occurred from a sufficient load applied when the airplane speed approached the water wave speed. Furthermore, the maximum upslope gradient beneath the airplane increased as the still water depth decreased, and it was larger in takeoff than in landing.