Experimental investigations on hydrodynamic interactions between the cylinder and nets of a typical offshore aquacultural structure in steady current

A series of physical experiments were performed in steady current to investigate the hydrodynamic interactions between the cylinder and nets which constitute a main part of offshore aquacultural platforms. The hydrodynamic characteristics of only the cylinder, only nets and combined cylinder-net structures are measured and analyzed systematically under different current velocities, inflow angles and solidity ratios of nets. Based on experimental data, fitted formulas for hydrodynamic coefficients of a single resin net are proposed and compared to previously published empirical formulas. It is observed that the existence of the cylinder brings an increment up to 9.2% to drag coefficient of net panels whose solidity ratios are higher than 0.347, whereas this effect is negligible for nets with lower solidity ratios and perpendicular to the inflow. For nets inclined with 45°, the increment of the drag coefficient of net panels due to the existence of the cylinder is more significant (up to 22.9%) than that for perpendicularly placed nets. Furthermore, the existence of nets also leads to a noticeable increase in the drag coefficient of the cylinder, up to 40.18% for a relatively large net solidity ratio of 0.458, representative of biofouling condition. The increment increases with the rise of the solidity ratio of nets and it is larger for nets placed perpendicularly to the inflow than inclined. Effects of the cylinder and nets on lift coefficients of each other are a bit complicated, leading to an increase or reduction of lift coefficients depending on the inflow velocity, inflow angle and net solidity ratios. Finally, it is worth noting that the hydrodynamic interaction between the cylinder and nets deserves to be considered in current practice of hybrid methods by combining potential flow theory, Morison and screen models for aquacultural structures, especially for biofouling conditions. •An experimental apparatus is developed to investigate hydrodynamic interactions between the cylinder and nets.•The existence of the cylinder can bring an increment up to 22.9% to drag coefficients of nets.•The existence of nets can bring an increment up to 40.18% to drag coefficients of the cylinder.•Revealed interactions between the cylinder and nets can be used to improve present hybrid numerical models.