• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.299-307
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• 2017

The design of the mooring line to maintain the position of an offshore structure in rough marine environments is recognized as a very important consideration. Conventional fatigue evaluation of a mooring line was performed by considering the tensile force acting on the mooring line, but the mooring line broke after 238 days in the girassol area even though the expected fatigue life was expected to be longer. The causes of this event are known to be due to OPB/IPB (out-of-plane bending/in-plane bending) caused by chain link friction due to the excessive tensile strength of the mooring line. In this study, three models with different boundary conditions were proposed for fatigue analysis of a mooring line considering OPB/IPB. Interlink stiffness was calculated by nonlinear structure analysis and a stress concentration factor was derived. In addition, the sensitivity of interlink stiffness according to the magnitude of tensile force, large deformation effect, and coefficient of friction was analyzed, and the effect of critical elastic slip and bending moment calculation position on interlink stiffness was confirmed.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.178-201
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• 2019

The appropriate design of a mooring system to maintain the position of an offshore structure in deep sea under various environmental loads is important. Fatigue design of the mooring line considering OPB/IPB(out-of-plane bending/in-plane bending) became an essential factor after the incident of premature fatigue failure of the mooring chain due to OPB/IPB in the Girassol region in West Africa. In this study, mooring line fatigue analysis was performed considering the OPB/IPB of a spread moored FPSO in deep sea. The tension of the mooring line was derived by hydrodynamic analysis using the de-coupled analysis method. The floater motion time histories were calculated under the assumption that the mooring line behaves in quasi-static manner. Additional time domain analysis was carried out by prescribing the obtained motions on top of the selected critical mooring line, which was determined based on spectral fatigue analysis. In addition, nonlinear finite element analysis was performed considering the material nonlinearities, and both the interlink stiffness and stress concentration factors were derived. The fatigue damage to the chain surface was estimated by combining both the hydrodynamic and stress analysis results.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.61-66
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• 2009

For a spread-moored FPSO (Floating Production, Storage, & Off-loading) subjected to environmental excitation from waves, current, and wind, a procedure to determine optimum length and stiffness of mooring lines is suggested using quasi-static frequency domain response analyses. Coupled relations between design parameters are closely examined. In consideration of this, optimized design parameters are proposed based on minimum weight condition. The initial design parameters for numerical analyses are calculated using the static catenary equation of mooring lines. It is demonstrated the line tension and vessel's offset are influenced by the mooring line length and stiffness. Accordingly it is suggested the optimum vessel's offset range should be determined considering line fatigue damage. The availability and limitation of the application of quasi-static analysis method for spread mooring system are explained by comparing the result of time domain analysis with one of frequency domain analysis.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.151-160
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• 2017

Growing demand and rapid development of the synthetic fiber rope in mooring system have taken place since it has been used in deep water platform lately. Unlike a chain mooring, synthetic fiber rope composed of lightweight materials such as Polyester(polyethylene terephthalate), HMPE(high modulus polyethylene) and Aramid(aromatic polyamide). Non-linear stiffness and another failure mode are distinct characteristics of synthetic fiber rope when compared to mooring chain. When these ropes are exposed to environmental load for a long time, the length of rope will be increased permanently. This is called 'the creep phenomenon'. Due to the phenomenon, The initial characteristics of mooring systems would be changed because the length and stiffness of the rope have been changed as time goes on. The changed characteristics of fiber rope cause different mooring tension and vessel offset compared to the initial design condition. Commercial mooring analysis software that widely used in industries is unable to take into account this phenomenon automatically. Even though the American Petroleum Institute (API) or other classification rules present some standard or criteria with respect to length and stiffness of a mooring line, simulation guide considers the mechanical properties that is not mentioned in such rules. In this paper, the effect of creep phenomenon in the fiber rope mooring system under specific environment condition is investigated. Desiged mooring system for a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit(MODU) with HMPE rope which has the highest creep is analyzed in a time domain in order to investigate the effects creep phenomenon to vessel offset and mooring tension. We have developed a new procedure to an analysis of mooring system reflecting the creep phenomenon and it is validated through a time domain simulation using non-linear mooring analysis software, OrcaFlex. The result shows that the creep phenomenon should be considered in analysis procedure because it affects the length and stiffness of synthetic fiber rope in case of high water temperature and permanent mooring system.

• Journal of Ship and Ocean Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.26-39
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• 2004

A vessel/mooring/riser coupled dynamic analysis program in time domain is developed for the global motion simulation of a turret-moored, tanker based FPSO designed for 6000-ft water depth. The vessel global motions and mooring tension are simulated for the non-parallel wind-wave-current 100-year hurricane condition in the Gulf of Mexico. The wind and current forces and moments are estimated from the OCIMF empirical data base for the given loading condition. The numerical results are compared with the OTRC(Offshore Technology Research Center: Model Basin for Offshore Platforms in Texas A&M University) 1:60 model-testing results with truncated mooring system. The system's stiffness and line tension as well as natural periods and damping obtained from the OTRC measurement are checked through numerically simulated static-offset and free-decay tests. The global vessel motion simulations in the hurricane condition were conducted by varying lateral and longitudinal hull drag coefficients, different mooring and riser set up, and wind-exposed areas to better understand the sensitivity of the FPSO responses against empirical parameters. It is particularly stressed that the dynamic mooring tension can be greatly underestimated when truncated mooring system is used.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.215-221
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• 2018

In this study, the optimal design of a mooring system was carried out. Unlike almost all design methods, which are based on the deterministic method, this study focused on the probabilistic method. The probabilistic method, especially the design of experiment (DOE), could be a good way to cover some of the drawbacks of the deterministic approach. There various parameters for a mooring system, as widely known, including the weight, length, and stiffness of line. Scenarios for the mooring system parameters were produced using the Latin Hypercube Sampling method of the probabilistic approach. Next, a vessel-mooring system coupled analysis was performed in Orcaflex. A total of 50 scenarios were used in this study to optimize the initial design by means of a genetic algorithm. Finally, after determining the optimal process, a reliability analysis was performed to understand the system validity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.185-191
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• 2004

A mooring system can be applied to keep the position of a floating structures. In this study, the structural analysis is carried out to analyze the dynamic characteristics of a mooring line for a floating breakwater. A three-dimensional equations of motion for a submerged chain are derived. Bending stiffness is considered for the necessary restoring force in the regions of zero tension. A fortran program is to be developed by employing finite difference method. In the algorithm, an implicit time integration and Newton-Raphson iteration are adopted. The results of simulation show good agreement in tension response pattern with the experimental results of a reference. The results of this study can contribute for the design of mooring system for a floating breakwater.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.87-94
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• 1985

Dynamic analysis of guyed tower is presented in this paper. The scope of the study is twofold. The one is to determine an efficient analysis method to include the nonlinearity of the mooring system and the nonlinear hydrodynamic wave forces. The other is to investigate the sensitivity of two major design parameters, that is the stiffness of mooring system and the fixity condition of the tower at mud line. Time history analysis method utilizing mode superposition is mainly considered. However several other methods are also used for the purpose of comparison. Analyses are carried out using the Lena Guyed Tower, which is the first structure of this kind, as a standard structure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.35-44
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• 2002

In this paper, the analytic studies on the wave control performance of moored pontoon-type floating breakwater are presented. A two-dimensional eigenfunction expansion method is adopted to study the motion responses and the transmission coefficients of pontoon-type floating breakwater in beam waves. The stiffness coefficients of mooring line are idealized as linear elastic spring. Comparison of the analytical results with a numerical results (FEM) shows good agreement over a wide range of frequencies. The performance of mooed pontoon-type floating breakwater is tested with various design parameters such as sectional geometry, mooring line characteristics and wave frequencies. It is found that the properly designed floating breakwater can be an effective wave control structure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 1995

The wave interaction with flexible membrane such as PVC and PU fabrics is studied to prove its applicability to portable breakwaters. To analyze the wave deformation due to the flexible membrane. eigen-function expansion method is employed. The fluid domain is seperated into two regions. The velocity potential in each regions and the deformation of membrane are coupled by the body boundary conditions. Herein the deformation of membrane is obtained by solving the membrane equation. As a numerical example, transmission and reflection coefficients according to the change of several design parameters such as tensile force. mooring line stiffness and membrane height are investigated. It is found that the efficiency of flexible membrane breakwater is significantly affected by these design parameters. The angle of incident wave is an important role to the performance of breakwater. Finally we conclude that flexible membrane can be used to engineering material for the future breakwaters.