Capturing the Motion of the Free Surface of a Fluid Stored within a Floating Structure

Large floating structures, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships, are subject to both internal and external fluid forces. The internal fluid forces may also be detrimental to a vessel’s stability and cause excessive loading regimes when sloshing occurs. Whilst it is relatively easy to measure the motion of external free surface with conventional measurement techniques, the sloshing of the internal free surface is more difficult to capture. The location of the internal free surface is normally extrapolated from measuring the pressure acting on the internal walls of the vessel. In order to understand better the loading mechanisms of sloshing internal fluids, a method of capturing the transient inner free surface motion with negligible affect on the response of the fluid or structure is required. In this paper two methods will be demonstrated for this purpose. The first approach uses resistive wave gauges made of copper tape to quantify the water run-up height on the walls of the structure. The second approach extends the conventional use of optical motion tracking to report the position of randomly distributed free floating markers on the internal water surface. The methods simultaneously report the position of the internal free surface with good agreement under static conditions, with absolute variation in the measured water level of around 4 mm. This new combined approach provides a map of the free surface elevation under transient conditions. The experimental error is shown to be acceptable (low mm-range), proving that these experimental techniques are robust free surface tracking methods in a range of situations

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Comparison of a Floating Cylinder with Solid and Water Ballast

Modelling and understanding the motion of water filled floating objects is important for a wide range of applications including the behaviour of ships and floating platforms. Previous studies either investigated only small movements or applied a very specific (ship) geometry. The presented experiments are conducted using the simplified geometry of an open topped hollow cylinder ballasted to different displacements. Regular waves are used to excite the floating structure, which exhibits rotation angles of over 20 degrees and a heave motion double that of the wave amplitude. Four different drafts are investigated, each with two different ballast options: with (water) and without (solid) a free surface. The comparison shows a small difference in the body’s three translational motions as well as the rotation around the normal axis to the water surface. Significant differences are observed in the rotation about the wave direction comparable to parametric rolling as seen in ships. The three bigger drafts with free surface switch the dominant global rotation direction from pitch to roll, which can clearly be attributed to the sloshing of the internal water. The presented study provides a new dataset and comparison of varying ballast types on device motions, which may be used for future validation experiments

Ensuring climate information guides long-term development

Many sub-Saharan countries are failing to include climate information in long-term development planning. Ensuring climate-resilient development requires a step change in how medium- to long-term climate information is produced, communicated and utilized in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere