Abstract
While it is said that a floating structure has less significant effects on marine environment than a reclaimed island, it is important to predict precisely the effects of a floating structure on the surrounding environment, in particular, the surrounding sea water. The main aim of the present paper is to clarify the sea-covering effect of a huge floating structure on the surrounding environment because heat flux through the sea surface may be strikingly obstructed by the presence of the floating structure. By making use of a numerical simulation program based on multilevel modeling approach, numerical calculations were carried out to estimate not only the change of flow field but also the change of temperature and salinity distribution around a huge floating structure. As a result, it is found that induced flow around the floating structure becomes unnegligible amount especially beneath the structure, and that the estimated flow field is largely depenedent to the choice of both coefficients of vertical eddy viscosity and vertical eddy disffusivity.
