Dynamics of a pile-moored fish cages in current and waves: A numerical study

We propose a numerical study of the dynamics of a double-constrained cylindrical pile-moored fish-farm cage, to be possibly installed at the foundations of dismissed offshore structures. Our model, derived from the net-truss model of Kristiansen and Faltinsen (2012), takes into account the elasticity of the net material, the real size of the net and is applied with and without mesh-grouping approaches, this allowing us to evaluate the range of validity of mesh-grouping techniques. First, cage dynamics have been studied with small-scale tests, in which the numerical model accurately reproduces the behaviour of the cage in both sea currents (velocity in the range 0.5−1m/s) and waves of small amplitude (with height of 1 m and period in the range 4−32 s). Use of the net real size for the computation grid of small-scale tests allows for identification of the main phenomena influencing the load distribution and the volume loss, which are: the dominant sail-shape deformation in the streamwise direction, the flattened deformations in the cross flow direction, and high-frequency oscillations in the vertical direction in long waves. Subsequently, a prototype-scale test is run to simulate the dynamics of a realistic installation of a double-constrained cylindrical pile-moored fish-farm cage in the Adriatic sea (considering both 1m/s sea current and storm sea state characterized by a peak period Tp=4 s and significant wave height Hs=1.5 m), showing that the major loads are a compression load on the pile up to 1 kN and a bending moment at the pile base up to 9.1 kNm. The proposed configuration always showed a small net relative volume loss VL<5%.