Techniques and systems to remove a portion of a drill floor from an offshore vessel. The drill floor may include an immovable section comprising a first portion of a surface area of the drill floor. The drill floor may also include a moveable section comprising a second portion of the surface area of the drill floor. Additionally, the drill floor may include an actuator configured to retract the moveable section from a first position to a second position to remove the second portion of the surface area of the drill floor.

A floating base comprising a shell constructed from a plurality of blocks reinforced using a plurality of tensile elements. The shell includes an inner space, a length, a width and at least one bulkhead disposed across the width along the length of the shell within the shell to strengthen the shell. In one embodiment, the shell further includes a spine disposed substantially at right angle to the at least one bulkhead to further strengthen the shell.

A curved origami-based metamaterial includes a panel of material having a plurality of curved creases each disposed within a plane of the panel. The panel is configured to be folded along one of the plurality of creases, and the panel is also configured to be bent about an axis disposed outside the plane of the panel. Stiffness manipulation is configured to be achieved in situ by activating a different one of the plurality of curved creases.

A curved origami-based metamaterial includes a panel of material having a plurality of curved creases each disposed within a plane of the panel. The panel is configured to be folded along one of the plurality of creases, and the panel is also configured to be bent about an axis disposed outside the plane of the panel. Stiffness manipulation is configured to be achieved in situ by activating a different one of the plurality of curved creases.

A floating base comprising a shell constructed from a plurality of blocks reinforced using a plurality of tensile elements. The shell includes an inner space, a length, a width and at least one bulkhead disposed across the width along the length of the shell within the shell to strengthen the shell. In one embodiment, the shell further includes a spine disposed substantially at right angle to the at least one bulkhead to further strengthen the shell.

An apparatus including a fine-array porous material with a specific surface area higher than 10/mm, the specific surface area depending on different pore sizes, wherein the porous material comprises a plurality of pores having a substantially uniform size with a variation of less than about 20%, wherein the size is larger than about 100 nm and smaller than about 10 cm. The high-buoyancy apparatus can be part of a water vehicle such as a boat or a submarine, and the fine-array porous material is configured to reduce friction and/or control buoyancy. A conduit is also provided employing a fine-array porous material to reduce friction and/or control buoyancy. A garment is provided taking advantage of water repellant and/or UV/IR reflection properties of the fine-array porous material.

An apparatus including a fine-array porous material with a specific surface area higher than 10/mm, the specific surface area depending on different pore sizes, wherein the porous material comprises a plurality of pores having a substantially uniform size with a variation of less than about 20%, wherein the size is larger than about 100 nm and smaller than about 10 cm. The high-buoyancy apparatus can be part of a water vehicle such as a boat or a submarine, and the fine-array porous material is configured to reduce friction and/or control buoyancy. A conduit is also provided employing a fine-array porous material to reduce friction and/or control buoyancy. A garment is provided taking advantage of water repellant and/or UV/IR reflection properties of the fine-array porous material.

Disclosed is a marine vessel to transport natural gas hydrates (NGH), the marine vessel includes a hull formed from solid NGH and a skeletal structure to support the hull. Additionally disclosed is a container to transport NGH including a block of solid NGH and a skeletal structure to support the block. Further disclosed is a method of fabricating a marine vessel for transporting and storing natural gas hydrates (NGH), the method includes preparing a mold, placing a skin layer in the mold, assembling a skeletal structure in the mold, preparing a NGH slurry, and pouring into NGH slurry into the mold.

Disclosed is a marine vessel to transport natural gas hydrates (NGH), the marine vessel includes a hull formed from solid NGH and a skeletal structure to support the hull. Additionally disclosed is a container to transport NGH including a block of solid NGH and a skeletal structure to support the block. Further disclosed is a method of fabricating a marine vessel for transporting and storing natural gas hydrates (NGH), the method includes preparing a mold, placing a skin layer in the mold, assembling a skeletal structure in the mold, preparing a NGH slurry, and pouring into NGH slurry into the mold.

A high pressure resistant flotation sphere includes a brittle fracture material macro-sphere of high elastic modulus and a shell of a low shear strength elastomeric material surrounding the macro-sphere. A high pressure resistant flotation material may be made of a plurality of macro-spheres embedded in syntactic foam or other matrix material, with each macro-sphere being encased in a shell of a low shear strength material that isolates each macro-sphere hydrostatically from the surrounding matrix.