Abstract
The purpose of this study was to improve the design of a mooring line by attaching a lumped mass to it on the seabed. A numerical analysis of the redesigned mooring system is performed to analyze the effect of the weight of the attached lumped mass using the commercial software Orcaflex. The ultimate tension of the mooring system with the lumped mass is compared with that of a bare mooring line in the original design. An appropriately designed weight for the lumped mass is found to induce a critical lifted point in the mooring line by floater motion in the ultimate condition to move toward the floater position from the anchor point, while maintaining a similar safety factor for the mooring line. On the other hand, it is shown that excess weight for the lumped mass induces snapping in a mooring line, resulting in low safety factor for the mooring system. The distance between lumped weights is shown to be a minor parameter affecting the safety of a mooring line, although a shorter line has an advantage from an economic point of view. Using the optimal weight for the lumped mass attached to the mooring line on a seabed reduces the mooring line length and installation area occupied by a mooring system under real sea conditions.
