Effects of roughness on hydrodynamic characteristics of a submerged floating tunnel subject to steady currents

The effects of surface roughness as induced by marine fouling on the hydrodynamic forces a submerged floating tunnel (SFT) are experimentally and numerically investigated in detail at Reynolds numbers Re = 8.125 × 103–5.25 104. A sensitivity analysis to different parameters including height, skewness, coverage ratio, spatial arrangement is performed. In addition, an optimized parametric cross-section for SFT proposed, performance shape circular with elements compared. pressure distribution along SFT, flow separation wake characteristics analyzed provide systematic insight into fundamental mechanism relating around SFT. order better understand nonlinear relationships among structural geometry, parameters, states, response, artificial intelligence method using Random Forest (RF) feature importance ranking applied. results show that shape, fouled can be effectively mitigated. height ratio affect equivalent blockage hence, change recirculation length wake. Lower skewness increase critical changing relative parameter. Horizontal generally largest forces, compared staggered vertical distributions. Throughout ranking, regime found most important hydrodynamics play dominant role.