Haicheng Zhang, Daolin Xu*, Shuyan Xia, Qijia Shi, and Rui Ding
Centre for Marine Technology, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China
*Corresponding author’s e-mail: dlxu@hnu.edu.cn
Abstract – This paper introduces a study on the nonlinear dynamics of a super-scale floating airport that consists of multiple floating modules with flexible connection. A network modeling method is developed for the super-scale floating airport with arbitrary topological configuration and connection. Nonlinear dynamics and network synergetic effect of the floating airport are elaborated, especially for the physical phenomenon of “amplitude death” that plays a key role in the system stability. The mechanism for the occurrence of amplitude death (AD) in non-autonomous systems is revealed and further the mathematical criterion is derived. The distribution patterns of the AD regions subject to the changes of sea conditions and design parameters provide a novel insight for the stability design of the marine structure in waves. Finally, the prospective of the methodology is addressed, potentially extendable to many engineering problems with network structure alike.
Keywords – Floating Airport, network, flexible connector, amplitude death.
Professor Daolin Xu obtained his PhD degree from the University College London (UCL) in 1996, and specializing in nonlinear dynamics. He worked as a senior research fellow at the Centre for Computational Mechanics and then as a division manager at the Institute of High Performance Computing at the National University of Singapore. In 1999, he joined the Nanyang Technological University Singapore as an Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In 2009, he joined the Hunan University in China, appointed as a Professor and Director of the Centre for Marine Technology. His present research interest is in Nonlinear Network Dynamics with applications in marine engineering. He has conducted a number of research projects from the National Natural Science Foundation, Naval Department, State Key Laboratory, National Research Programs of “863’ and ’973’, and industrial R&D projects. He has published over 100 academic papers in prestigious journals, received over 2600 citations and his H-index stands at 25. He co-authored a book entitled Line Spectrum Chaotification for Vibration Isolation System of Onboard Machinery. He was awarded the Best Paper Prize in IEEE conference in the United Kingdom. He also serves as a panel member of several expert committees in China, including the National Natural Science Foundation, State Key Laboratories and other professional bodies.