From all reports of the tests out so far, the results were even better than
expected and the platform proved very stable, with basically no movement caused
by the waves or the planes landing or taking off.
The unit was constructed of steel with walls or pillars inside a box
structure, it was designed to have a life expectancy of 100 years. The project
was by a consortium of 17 Japanese companies.
Although this has been used to land small planes on, it is about a quarter scale of
the proposed completed production unit.
For some descriptions of
Megafloat see:
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/bull/36.html
report on plan to build
http://www.mlit.go.jp/english/maritime/mega_float.html
Japanese government report on project
http://www.nkk.co.jp/en/release/40-9/art06.html
report on results with photos
http://www.onr.navy.mil/onrasia/narita/NL3.htm
USA report on research including megafloat.
http://www.ihi.co.jp/ihi/ihitopics/ihitopics-e.html
one of the companies involved, see ship and offshore activities 1999-2000
MOB project
MOB stands for Mobile Offshore Base and is an American military
concept.
It is a 2km runway sitting on floats, that is divided into sections and can
be moved about.
http://mob.nfesc.navy.mil/ has a
description and flash movie showing a number of slides explaining the concept. A
linked alternative concepts page shows five designs with links to more
information on each.
Newfoundland deltaport project
A delta shaped floating island structure (triangle with hole in the center of
the base with sides about a mile long) with a lot of detail of the method of
proposed construction and diagrams of their ideas for application varying from a
retirement village in the med for 1,700 people to a deep ocean oil exploration
site. Runways on the top are suggested taking off and landing at an angle to the
wind.
Although at first it appears to be a well thought out college project,
including presentation and costing as an oil field support unit, further
information would show a company run by a person with a university background.
The next proposed phase is a 10M dollar scale model in a sheltered bay.
We are as yet undecided as to the relevance of this project to any of the
sections of our project.
You can find out more at
http://home.thezone.net/~deltaprt/
More information from
http://oceaneng.eng.hawaii.edu/~vlfs/
this is a portal on the whole topic area.
http://wwwvl.naoe.ish.dtu.dk
library of information on navel architecture and Ocean engineering.
We didn't find very much of interest to us at the time we looked.
See also Pneumatic page of this web site (use contents button above if you
have difficulty locating it).