Very large floating structure Mega-Float, completed 1999 The very large floating structure, Mega-Float, was completed as a floating airport model off Yokosuka in Tokyo Bay in August 1999.

The Mega-Float consists of six units, which were welded into one huge structure measuring 1,000m in length, 60m (partially 121m) in width and 3m in depth. The Mega-Float is the world's largest as a floating object. The largest unit was 383m x 60m.

The Mega-Float is now used for take-off and landing tests using airplanes, for verifying commercialization. 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. Click on button to left to see larger version. 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).

