The Analytical Solution of Taut-Slack Mooring Line With Tanh-Method

Author(s):  
Su-xia Zhang ◽  
You-gang Tang ◽  
Xi-jun Liu

In this paper, the continuous model is introduced and solitary solutions of the nonlinear partial differential equations of taut-slack mooring line are obtained by tanh method, and the plots of results are drawn. The results show that, with the continuous increasing of pretension, the tension curve convert from snap tension to continuous line, until to multi-peaks line. In the process of increasing the pretension, the mooring line transfer from slack to taut, until to breakage, accompanying with tension skip, which is reduced by the system parameters, and different combination of parameters may introduce to different tension in line, and the uncertainty may cause the breakage of mooring system.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Su-xia Zhang ◽  
Rui-zhi Shi ◽  
Shengli Chen ◽  
Xi-jun Liu

The continuous model is introduced, and the nonlinear partial differential equations of taut-slack mooring line system are transferred to nonlinear algebraic equations through tanh method, and four solitary solutions are obtained further. At the same time, to express the results clearly, the curve surfaces of strains, displacements, and tension are plotted. The results show that there are four different solutions in the system. With the pretension increasing, the tension changes from one solitary solution to snap tension, and when the pretension is increased further, the curve converts to continuous line, until straight line, which is corresponding to the taut mooring line. In the process of increasing of pretension, the mooring line transfers from slack to taut, accompanied with tension skipping, which is reduced by the system parameters, and different combination of parameters may introduce different tension in line, and the uncertainty may cause the breakage of mooring system. The results have an agreement with experiment, which shows that the calculating method in this paper may be believable and feasible. This work may provide reference for design of mooring system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Dongsheng Qiao ◽  
Binbin Li ◽  
Jun Yan ◽  
Yu Qin ◽  
Haizhi Liang ◽  
...  

During the long-term service condition, the mooring line of the deep-water floating platform may fail due to various reasons, such as overloading caused by an accidental condition or performance deterioration. Therefore, the safety performance under the transient responses process should be evaluated in advance, during the design phase. A series of time-domain numerical simulations for evaluating the performance changes of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) with different broken modes of mooring lines was carried out. The broken conditions include the single mooring line or two mooring lines failure under ipsilateral, opposite, and adjacent sides. The resulting transient and following steady-state responses of the vessel and the mooring line tensions were analyzed, and the corresponding influence mechanism was investigated. The accidental failure of a single or two mooring lines changes the watch circle of the vessel and the tension redistribution of the remaining mooring lines. The results indicated that the failure of mooring lines mainly influences the responses of sway, surge, and yaw, and the change rule is closely related to the stiffness and symmetry of the mooring system. The simulation results could give a profound understanding of the transient-effects influence process of mooring line failure, and the suggestions are given to account for the transient effects in the design of the mooring system.


Author(s):  
Will Brindley ◽  
Andrew P. Comley

In recent years a number of high profile mooring failures have emphasised the high risk nature of this element of a floating structure. Semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs) operating in the harsh North Sea environment have experienced approximately 3 mooring failures every 2 years, based on an average population of 34 units. In recognition of the high mooring failure rates, the HSE has introduced recommendations for more stringent mooring strength requirements for units operating on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) [17]. Although strength requirements are useful to assess the suitability of a mooring design, they do not provide an insight into the question: what is the reliability of the mooring system? This paper aims to answer this question by evaluating failure statistics over the most recent decade of available data. Mooring failure rates are compared between the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), the UKCS, and with industry code targets to understand how overall reliability is related to the strength capacity of a mooring system. The failure statistics suggest that a typical MODU operating in the UKCS would experience a mooring line failure in heavy weather approximately every 20 operating years. This failure rate appears to be several orders of magnitude greater than industry targets used to calibrate mooring codes. Despite the increased strength requirements for the NCS, failure rates do not appear to be lower than the UKCS. This suggests that reliability does not correlate well with mooring system strength. As a result, designing to meet the more rigorous HSE requirements, which would require extensive upgrades to existing units, may not significantly increase mooring system reliability. This conclusion needs to be supported with further investigation of failure statistics in both the UKCS and NCS. In general, work remains to find practical ways to further understand past failures and so improve overall reliability.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willemijn Pauw ◽  
Remco Hageman ◽  
Joris van den Berg ◽  
Pieter Aalberts ◽  
Hironori Yamaji ◽  
...  

Abstract Integrity of mooring system is of high importance in the offshore industry. In-service assessment of loads in the mooring lines is however very challenging. Direct monitoring of mooring line loads through load cells or inclinometers requires subsea installation work and continuous data transmission. Other solutions based on GPS and motion monitoring have been presented as solutions to overcome these limitations [1]. Monitoring solutions based on GPS and motion data provide good practical benefits, because monitoring can be conducted from accessible area. The procedure relies on accurate numerical models to model the relation between global motions and response of the mooring system. In this paper, validation of this monitoring approach for a single unit will be presented. The unit under consideration is a turret-moored unit operating in Australia. In-service measurements of motions, GPS and line tensions are available. A numerical time-domain model of the mooring system was created. This model was used to simulate mooring line tensions due to measured FPSO motions. Using the measured unit response avoids the uncertainty resulting from a prediction of the hydrodynamic response. Measurements from load cells in various mooring lines are available. These measurements were compared against the results obtained from the simulations for validation of the approach. Three different periods, comprising a total of five weeks of data, were examined in more detail. Two periods are mild weather conditions with different dominant wave directions. The third period features heavy weather conditions. In this paper, the data set and numerical model are presented. A comparison between the measured and numerically calculated mooring line forces will be presented. Differences between the calculated and measured forces are examined. This validation study has shown that in-service monitoring of mooring line loads through GPS and motion data provides a new opportunity for mooring integrity assessment with reduced monitoring system complexity.


Author(s):  
Gang Zou ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Feng Zhang

As the offshore industry is developing into deeper and deeper water, station keeping technics are becoming more and more important to the industry. Based on the dynamic positioning system, the thruster assisted mooring system (TAMS) is developed, which consisted of mooring lines and thrusters. The main function of the TAMS is to hold a structure against wind wave and current loads with its thruster and cables, which is mainly evaluated by the holding capacity of the system. The arrangement of the mooring lines (location of anchor or the mooring line angle relative to platform) will directly affect the TAMS holding capacity because of the influence of the directions of the mooring forces. So finding out an optimum arrangement of the mooring lines is essential since the performance of the TAMS depends greatly on the arrangement of the mooring lines. The TAMS of a semi-submersible platform, which is studied in this paper, consisted of eight mooring lines. By fixing the layout of the thrusters and changing the location of each mooring line for every case, the performances of the TAMS are analyzed. The platform motions, mooring line tensions and power consumptions are compared to obtain the optimum arrangement of mooring lines, and thus a thruster assisted mooring system with a better performance can be achieved. Time domain simulation is carried out in this paper to obtain the results.


Author(s):  
P. Metallidis ◽  
S. Natsiavas

Abstract The present study generalises previous research work on the dynamics of discrete oscillators with piecewise linear characteristics and investigates the response of a continuous model system with clearance and motion-limiting constraints. More specifically, in the first part of this work, an analysis is presented for determining exact periodic response of a periodically excited deformable rod, whose motion is constrained by a flexible obstacle. This methodology is based on the exact solution form obtained within response intervals where the system parameters remain constant and its behavior is governed by a linear equation of motion. The unknowns of the problem are subsequently determined by imposing an appropriate set of periodicity and matching conditions. The analytical part is complemented by a suitable method for determining the stability properties of the located periodic motions. In the second part of the study, the analysis is applied to several cases in order to investigate the effect of the system parameters on its dynamics. Special emphasis is placed on comparing these results with results obtained for similar but rigid rods. Finally, direct integration of the equation of motion in selected areas reveals the existence of motions, which are more complicated than the periodic motions determined analytically.


Author(s):  
Zhuang Kang ◽  
Rui Chang ◽  
Youwei Kang ◽  
Shanchuan Liu

Abstract The taut mooring system is widely used for some advantages, such as smaller mooring radius, lighter total weight and better anti-corrosion performance. In this paper, the taut mooring system of a Truss Spar platform which was taken as the research object was investigated under the condition of 2000 m water depth in South China Sea. Firstly, the main body of the platform was analyzed in frequency domain based on the 3-d potential theory, and then the nonlinear solutions of platform displacement and mooring line force were obtained by using coupling analysis method in time domain, which determined the preliminary design parameters of mooring system. The sensitivity of the taut system is studied by changing several design parameters such as the top angle of mooring line, cable hole position and method of mooring disposal. In summary, the variation of the motion and dynamic response of the platform and mooring system has been explored and summarized by studying the design process and influential parameter of dynamic characteristics of mooring system and optimizing ideas of relevant parameters, which can further provide technical support and engineering reference for the design and application of the taut mooring system of deepwater Truss Spar platforms.


Author(s):  
Jiawen Li ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Jiali Du ◽  
Yichen Jiang

Abstract This paper presents a parametric design study of the mooring system for a floating offshore wind turbine. We selected the OC4 DeepCwind semisubmersible floating wind turbine as the reference structure. The design water depth was 50 m, which was the transition area between the shallow and deep waters. For the floating wind turbine working in this water area, the restoring forces and moments provided by the mooring lines were significantly affected by the heave motion amplitude of the platform. Thus, the mooring design for the wind turbine in this working depth was different from the deep-water catenary mooring system. In this study, the chosen design parameters were declination angle, fairlead position, mooring line length, environmental load direction, and mooring line number. We conducted fully coupled aero-hydro dynamic simulations of the floating wind turbine system in the time domain to investigate the influences of different mooring configurations on the platform motion and the mooring tension. We evaluated both survival and accidental conditions to analyze the mooring safety under typhoon and mooring fail conditions. On the basis of the simulation results, this study made several design recommendations for the mooring configuration for floating wind turbines in intermediate water depth applied in China.


Author(s):  
Spiro J. Pahos ◽  
Georgina Maldonado ◽  
Paul C. Westlake

Abstract Traditionally mooring line strength assessment is based on a deterministic approach, where the mooring system is evaluated for a design environment defined by a return period. The mooring system response is then checked against the mooring strength to ensure a required factor of safety. Some codes adopt a deterministic approach [1], [2], [3]. Other codes like [4] adopt a partial safety factor format where uncertainties are addressed through load factors for load components and material factors for line strength. Industry practices give guidance on mooring analysis methodology together with analysis options like coupled, de-coupled, time domain, frequency domain and the associated line tension safety factors. Prior work has demonstrated that discrepancies in mooring line tensions are observed when different analytical approaches are used [5]. Namely, the mooring line tensions of a semi-submersible unit in a coupled time domain analysis, were found to be non-compliant, whereas those calculated using a decoupled time domain analysis returned compliant tensions. This work focuses on a coupled dynamic analysis where all inertial, hydrodynamic and mechanical forces are assessed to determine the subsequent motions. Despite being considered the most accurate to capture the true dynamic response, a coupled analysis is also the least efficient in terms of the required computer resources and engineering effort [1]. This paper presents further discussion on the above observation in mooring tensions and also considers differences in the installation’s excursion. All responses are evaluated in the time domain where the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the mooring lines, slowly varying wave drift forces and coupling effects are captured. Agreement is found in the present computations, carried out with two renowned hydrodynamic codes, which validate former results and reiterate the need to distinguish between time domain methods and recommended appropriate safety factors accordingly.


Author(s):  
Xuliang Han ◽  
ShiSheng Wang ◽  
Bin Xie ◽  
Wenhui Xie ◽  
Weiwei Zhou

In order to predict the coupled motion and external wave load for the design of deepwater floating structure system, based on the three-dimensional time-domain potential flow theory, this paper present the indirect time-domain dynamic coupling method and the body nonlinear dynamic coupling method. The perturbation expansion theory is adopted to evaluate hydrodynamic on the fixed mean wetted body surface for the former method. The transient free surface Green function has been extended and applied to calculate the nonlinear hydrodynamic on the instantaneous wetted exact body surface for the latter method. The finite element model is employed to solve dynamic response of mooring line. Then asynchronous coupled method is adopted to achieve the coupled dynamic analysis of platform and mooring lines. The time-domain motion responses and spectrum analysis of Spar platform are verified and compared with the traditional indirect time-domain coupling dynamic method when the mooring system is completed. Also the time-domain motion responses and statistical characteristic of Spar platform are investigated with one mooring line broken in extreme sea condition. Some conclusions are obtained, that is, dynamic coupling effects are significant and transient position hydrodynamic calculation of platform has a great influence on the low frequency motion. The results also show that the influence on the global performance of mooring system is different when the broken line is in different place. A remarkable influence occurs when the broken mooring line is in the head-wave direction.


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