Ships and Offshore Structures

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Innovative approach to design truncated mooring

system based on static and damping equivalent

Tianhui Fan, Dongsheng Qiao & Jinping Ou

To cite this article: Tianhui Fan, Dongsheng Qiao & Jinping Ou (2014) Innovative approach to
design truncated mooring system based on static and damping equivalent, Ships and Offshore
Structures, 9:6, 557-568, DOI: 10.1080/17445302.2013.867631

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445302.2013.867631

Published online: 02 Jan 2014.

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Ships and Offshore Structures, 2014
Vol. 9, No. 6, 557–568, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445302.2013.867631

Innovative approach to design truncated mooring system based on static and damping equivalent
Tianhui Fana,b,∗ , Dongsheng Qiaob,c and Jinping Oua,b,c
a
Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; b Deepwater Engineering Research Center,
Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China; c State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of
Technology, Dalian, China
(Received 9 November 2012; accepted 18 November 2013)

An innovative approach is developed to design equivalent truncated mooring system for hybrid model testing. Considering
the gravity, tension, current force and mooring line extension, the piecewise extrapolating method is employed to the static
analysis of the multi-component mooring line. In addition, the quasi-static approach and dissipated energy model are used to
figure out the mooring-induced damping of mooring system. Employing genetic algorithm, an optimised design program is
developed to design equivalent truncated mooring system based on the similarity of both static and damping characteristics.
Considering the catenary, semi-taut and taut mooring systems used for some semi-submersible platform of 1500 m water
depths, equivalent truncated mooring system is designed by using the design program in this paper, respectively. The results
prove that the design program is available for all common types of deep water mooring system and can be used for hybrid
model testing.
Keywords: optimised design; truncated mooring system; equivalent mooring system; static characteristics; damping
characteristic

1. Introduction (Fylling 2005) is a special version of MOOROPT com-

The gas and oil industry is now cumulatively concentrating
their efforts and activities in developing fields in deeper
waters. Physical model tests of floating platforms with full-
depth mooring system present obstacles because no tank
facility is sufficiently large to perform model testing of
platform with complete mooring system in 1500–3000 m
water depths, within convincible model scale. An available
method, hybrid approach including combination of model
tests with truncated set-up and numerical simulations is
proposed to deal with the obstacles above (Stansberg et al.
2002). Experimental results from passive truncated model
are used for numerical reconstruction and verification in
the numerical calculation software, and then the dynamic
characteristics of full-depth mooring system are obtained
through the numerical extrapolation (Moxnes and Larsen
1998).
Truncated set-up of equivalent mooring system is a key
aspect in passive hybrid model testing technique. Confirm-
ing all the parameters of truncated mooring line by a “trial
and error” method is so tedious and time-consuming that
computer-aided design is desirable. In order to accomplish
the automatic design of truncated mooring system, efficient
optimisation algorithm, robust static and dynamic computer
code are needed.
Several computer codes have been developed based on
the similarity of static characteristics. MOOROPT-TRUNC
bined with Mimosa and the nonlinear optimisation pro-
gram NLPQL to design truncated mooring and riser system.
Zhang et al. (2009), Su et al. (2008) and Udoh (2008) de-
veloped truncated mooring system design programs using
various kinds of methods to calculate the statics of mooring
system and employing different optimisation algorithms.
However, the differences of the dynamic characteristics
between truncated and full-depth mooring system are re-
flected in the contribution of mooring-induced damping
which has significant influence on motion responses of
floating structure. The dynamics of truncated mooring lines
have been studied by Chen et al. (2000). Su et al. (2009)
studied the mooring-induced damping by means of model
tests and numerical simulations.
Both the static and damping characteristics should be
considered when the equivalent truncated mooring system
is set up. In this paper, an innovative approach is developed
to design the equivalent truncated mooring system for all
common types of deep water mooring system, based on the
similarity of both static and damping characteristics.
The objectives for this paper are as follows:
(1) To provide an effective and applicable design ap-
proach for truncated set-up.
(2) To design equivalent truncated mooring system
based on the similarity of both static and damp-
ing characteristics.

∗
Corresponding author. Email: fantianhui.dlut@gmail.com


C 2013 Taylor & Francis
558 T. Fan et al.
Figure 1. Arbitrary element of mooring line.
(3) To develop design program available for all com-
mon types of deep water mooring system.
In this paper, considering both static and damping char-
acteristics, an automatic design program is developed. Sec-
tion 2 provides a description of the piecewise extrapolating
method which is used to calculate the statics of mooring
system. The quasi-static approach and dissipated energy
model used to figure out the mooring-induced damping are
presented in Section 3. Section 4 introduces the genetic al-
gorithm and the process of our optimised design program.
One case on the mooring system for some semi-submersible
platform of 1500 m water depths is studied in Section 5.
Finally, conclusions are drawn in Section 6.
2. Statics of mooring system
2.1. Governing equation of mooring line
Considering the gravity, tension, current force and mooring
line extension, the coordinates and force components of a
mooring line element are shown in Figure 1.
Ignoring the second-order small quantities, equations
of static equilibrium and geometry equations can be estab-
lished as Equations (1)–(4):
dT
= P sin θ − F (1 − ε) (1)
ds
dθ 1 Ti+1 =
= [P cos θ + D(1 + ε)] (2)
ds T where TXi , TXi+1 , TZi and TZi+1 are, respectively, the hor-
dX
= (1 + ε) cos θ (3)
ds
dZ
= (1 + ε) sin θ (4)
ds
where T and θ are, respectively, tension and angle in the
upper part of the mooring line element; dT and dθ are,
respectively, variation of tension and the angle; P is the net
submerged weight of mooring line (per unit length); F is
the mooring line tangential drag force (per unit length); D
is the mooring line normal drag force (per unit length); ε
Figure 2. Elements of mooring line.
is the strain of mooring line; and X and Z are, respectively,
horizontal and vertical coordinates.
2.2. Solution
Multi-component mooring line is considered in this paper.
The components include wire ropes, top and bottom chains
of different submerged unit weight, stiffness and length.
The piecewise extrapolating method is employed to solve
the static problem of single mooring line. First step is to
discretise the mooring line. The top chain AB, the middle
wire BC and the bottom chain OC are divided into n1 , n2
and n3 elements, respectively, as shown in Figure 2. Thus,
the mooring line is totally divided into n = n1 + n2 + n3
parts. (n1 , n2 , n3 and n are elements quantities of AB, BC,
OC and the total mooring line, respectively.)
All forces are loaded on the centre of each element, in-
cluding element gravity and current force. By analysing the
force of each element i, the equations of static equilibrium
can be deduced from Equations (5)–(7) as follows:
TXi+1 = TXi − Fi cos θi (ds + εds) − Di sin θi (ds + εds)
(5)
TZi+1 = TZi − Fi sin θi (ds + εds) + Di cos θi (ds + εds)
+ Pi ds (6)

2
TXi+1 + TZi+1
2
(7)
izontal tension and the vertical tension of the ith and the
(i + 1)th element of the mooring line; Di and Fi are, re-
spectively, the normal drag force and the tangential drag
force of the ith element of the mooring line.
According to Equations (5)–(7), the space relationships
of node coordinates in each element can be obtained as
follows:
xi+1 = (ds + εds) cos θi + xi (8)
zi+1 = (ds + εds) sin θi + zi (9)
 Ships and Offshore Structures 559

Knowing the forces on the first element of mooring line in

directions X and Z, the problem can be solved by iterative
methods. The specific procedure is shown as follows (Hao
and Teng 2003):

(1) The top angle is assumed as θ .

(2) The mooring line is divided into several elements,
and the forces are transformed on the centre of each
element.
(3) The end of the former element is considered as the
start of next element.
(4) The tension T of each element and the X, Z coordi-
nates of each point are calculated. Figure 3. Top view of the mooring line positions.
(5) If the last Z coordinate equals the water depth H,
the calculation is terminated; if not, repeat the first
step.
distances can cover the maximum and minimum
fairlead–anchor distances. By picking each top ten-
By doing this, according to the given top tension, the
sion evenly in the top tension region, the corre-
relative top angle can be obtained, and the tension and the
sponding fairlead–anchor distance of each top ten-
coordinates of each element of the mooring line can be
sion can be figured out. Based on this, the rela-
gained as well. Thus, with given properties of mooring, for
tionship curve of top tension and anchor–fairlead
each top tension, the corresponding top angle and anchor–
distance can be obtained.
fairlead distance can be calculated. Golden section search
(2) According to the horizontal offset of platform, the
method is adopted in this paper to find out the top angle,
new fairlead–anchor distance of each mooring line
which can achieve optimal result by shortening the optimi-
can be obtained by the distribution of azimuth an-
sation interval. During each step, the length of new interval
gle. The top view of mooring line positions is shown
is 0.618 times of the last one. Thus, this method has high
in Figure 3. According to cosine theorem, when off-
convergence rate and accuracy.
set is dx, the corresponding new azimuth angle and
fairlead–anchor distance can be deduced by those
2.3. Statics analysis of mooring system at former step offset location.
(3) According to the relationship curve obtained in step
In order to design the equivalent truncated mooring system,
(1) and the new fairlead–anchor distance of each
the static characteristic of the whole mooring system is
mooring line in every offset step obtained in step
needed. The calculating process is shown as follows:
(2), the restoring forces of whole mooring system
and the static tension of each mooring line can
(1) According to the properties of mooring line, the
be calculated by employing the linear interpolation
given top tension of mooring line and the water
method.
depths, the relationship between top tension and
fairlead–anchor distance can be set up. It can pro-
vide basis for calculating mooring system restor-
ing forces. If the top tension is given, we could
obtain the relative fairlead–anchor distance. When 3. Mooring-induced damping
platform is at the equilibrium position, the top ten- The horizontal motions of floating structures restrained by
sion of mooring line equals the pre-tension. Then, a mooring system can be modelled as a resonant oscillator
the initial fairlead–anchor distance can be calcu- whose natural periods may be in range of one to several
lated based on the pre-tension. According to the hundred seconds, depending on the water depth and the
initial fairlead–anchor distance and the maximum oscillator characteristics. As a result, for moored offshore
offset of platform, the maximum and the minimum structures working in deep water, whose nature periods are
fairlead–anchor distances of mooring line can be close to low frequency (LF), damping is crucial to esti-
calculated. In order to establish the relationship be- mate the LF vessel motions. As the water depth increases,
tween top tension and fairlead–anchor distance, a the mooring-induced damping increases relative to other
top tension region must be chosen first. Then the sources of damping, affecting the motion response of the
relative fairlead–anchor distances can be figured vessel considerably. Thus an accurate estimate of mooring-
out. The region needs to be chosen large enough to induced damping is critical to a realistic simulation of deep
ensure that the calculated relative fairlead–anchor water moored vessels.
560 T. Fan et al.
3.1. Dissipated energy model
Huse and Matsumoto (1988, 1989) and Huse (1991) have
studied mooring-induced damping by means of the dissi-
pated energy model. Consider a moored floating body. Its
surge motion is governed by the following equation:
d 2X dX
(M + Ma ) 2
+B + K(X)X = F (10)
dt dt
where M and Ma are, respectively, the structural and added
mass, and K(X) is the mooring stiffness. The mass and
restoring force are such that the natural frequency w0 is
quite low.
The system damping is in the form of an equivalent
linear surge damping coefficient B. The dissipated energy
E during one LF oscillation of period τ is related to the
linear coefficient B by the formula
 τ  2
dX
E= B dt (11)
0 dt
where X refers to the LF component of the surge motions.
Consequently, provided the energy dissipated by the
mooring line during one LF surge oscillation can be com-
puted, the linear damping coefficient is obtained by
Eτ
B= (12)
2π 2 X02
where X0 is the amplitude of the surge harmonic oscillation.
The dissipated energy E can be obtained by integrating
the work done by the upper tension during one surge oscil-
lation. This requires the use of a finite element dynamics
program. The alternative is to adopt a quasi-static method.
3.2. Assumptions of quasi-static method
The quasi-static method is based on the following two as-
sumptions:
(1) Inertia forces in the mooring line can be neglected
compared to drag.
(2) Line profile at any time during the harmonic surge
oscillation is reasonably well described by the
quasi-static catenary equations.
The following simplifying assumptions are also made
as follows:
(1) Friction effects of the seabed and internal damp-
ing of the mooring line are not considered here.
Consequently, the mooring line damping is due to
drag forces acting on the mooring line only. Drag
forces acting perpendicular to the line are consid-
ered while drag forces parallel to the line are ne-
glected.
(2) The transverse drag force on an element of the
mooring line is described by the Morison formula-
tion only.
3.3. Calculation of mooring-induced damping
Huse (1986) proposed a method to calculate the dissipated
energy E by considering the transverse motion of an element
ds of the mooring line resulting from the LF surge oscilla-
tion. More recently, Liu and Bergdahl (1998) and Bauduin
and Naciri (2000) (whose model is called B&N model)
proposed improvements on Huse’s quasi-static model for
mooring line-induced damping by approximating the de-
formation of the line shape and the transverse velocity of
the line in more accurate ways, respectively.
In this study, the B&N model is used to calculate the
damping induced by the mooring system. A little improve-
ment is proposed during the application of the B&N model.
3.3.1. Calculation of transverse displacement
Consider a discretisation of the period τ with a time step
t = τ/2N . A total number of N + 1 catenary line profiles
are computed; the first and the last, respectively, for the near
and far positions are as shown in Figure 4.
The time discretisation of a surge cycle is tn = nt for
n = 0, . . . , N . At each time tn , the anchor–fairlead distance
and azimuth angle θ (tn ) are easily found and the catenary
line profile is deduced. The line displacement η(s, tn )
between tn−1 and tn is then evaluated as follows:
⎧ ⎫ ⎧ ⎫
⎨ X(s, tn ) − X(s, tn−1 ) ⎬ ⎨ X(s, tn ) ⎬
η(s, tn ) = Y (s, tn ) − Y (s, tn−1 ) = Y (s, tn )
⎩ ⎭ ⎩ ⎭
Z(s, tn ) − Z(s, tn−1 ) Z(s, tn )
(13)
where (X, Y, Z)(s, tn ) designates the position at time tn in a
fixed three-dimensional reference axis system of an element
ds at abscissa s along the mooring line.
The displacement variations η(s, tn ) are projected in
the plane perpendicular to ds in order to evaluate transverse
Figure 4. Top view of the mooring line positions during one
surge oscillation.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 561

Thus, considering the transverse displacement is a function

of time, Fourier series can be employed to establish the
displacement function as follows:

ηt1 (s, tn )
ηt (s, tn ) =
ηt2 (s, tn )
⎧∞ ⎫
⎪  ⎪
⎨ (ak (s) cos(kω0 t) + bk (s) sin(kω0 t) + C1 )⎪
⎪ ⎬
=  i=1
∞ (16)
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎩ (ck (s) cos(kω0 t) + dk (s) sin(kω0 t) + C2 ) ⎪
⎭
i=1
Figure 5. Global and local reference axes of mooring line.
where ak (s), bk (s), ck (s), dk (s), C1 and C2 are real numbers
and ω0 = 2π/τ .
For practical reasons, the Fourier series has been trun-
cated at k = 4, and the number N has been set as 8. This
choice provides a good compromise between accuracy and
daunting algebra. The unknown coefficients ak (s), bk (s),
ck (s), dk (s), C1 and C2 are obtained by a least-squares
method for each value of the curvilinear abscissa s. As a re-
sult, the expression of the transverse displacement function
is known.

3.3.3. Damping analysis of mooring system. Once the

Figure 6. Mooring line local reference axes and the plane per-
pendicular to the line at curvilinear abscissa s.
displacements, associated velocities and, finally, drag
forces.
By means of coordinate transformation, as shown in
Figures 5 and 6, it can easily obtain the two components of
the transverse displacement given by
−−−−−−−−
−−−−−−−−
transverse displacement function is obtained, the transverse
velocity V1 (s, tn ) of an element ds of the mooring line is
straightforwardly deduced.
In the presence of an arbitrary current profile Vc , the
relative velocity Vr (s, tn ) of the fluid flow and the line is
shown as
−−−−−−−−

Vr (s, tn ) = Vc (s, tn ) − Vt (s, tn ) (17)


ηt1 (s, tn )
ηt (s, tn ) = The drag force dF on an element dS can then be calculated
ηt2 (s, tn )
⎧ ⎫ using Morison equation as
⎨(X(s, tn ) cos(θn )+Y (s, tn ) sin(θn )) sin(ϕn )⎬
= +Z(s, tn ) cos(ϕn ) (14) 1 −−−−−−−−
−−−−−−−−

⎩ ⎭

dF = ρw Cd (s)π D(s) Vr (s, tn ) Vr (s, tn )ds

−X(s, tn ) sin(θn )+Y (s, tn ) cos(θn ) (18)
2
The transverse displacement ηt (s, tn ) from the near posi- The dissipated energy by the element ds during one cycle
tion to the far position of the line is simply gained by is obtained by
⎧ n ⎫ 
⎪  ⎪ τ
−−−−−−−−

 ⎨ ηt1 (s, tn ) ⎪
⎪ ⎬ dE = d F · Vt (s, tn ) dt (19)
ηt1 (s, tn )
ηt (s, tn ) = = i=0
n (15) 0
ηt2 (s, tn ) ⎪
⎪ ηt2 (s, tn ) ⎪
⎪
⎩ ⎭
i=0 The dissipated energy for the complete line is then

The motion of the line during the second half cycle is de-  L  τ −−−−−−−−
−−−−−−−−

1
duced by symmetry. dE = ρw Cd (s)π D(s) Vr (s, tn ) Vr (s, tn )
0 0 2
−−−−−−−−

· Vt (s, tn ) dtds (20)

3.3.2. Curve fitting method
It is expected that the transverse displacement of each el- In this paper, the integration is done numerically, using the
ement of mooring line should be periodic, because of the self-adapting Gauss–Lobatto iteration method. And then,
reason that the fairlead motion is harmonic by definition. once the dissipated energy has been obtained, the damping
562 T. Fan et al.

of each mooring line can be evaluated by Equation (12). Fi- at position i; F zt,i and F zf,i are, respectively, the vertical
nally, the damping of the mooring system can be calculated restoring force of truncated and full-depth mooring system
as well. at position i; Tt,i and Tf,i are, respectively, the top tension
of truncated and full-depth mooring line at position i; Ct,i
and Cf,i are, respectively, the LF mooring-induced damp-
4. Optimised design of truncated mooring system ing coefficient of truncated and full-depth mooring system
Once the static and damping characteristics are obtained, for the frequency j.
according to the truncation design criterion, equivalent trun- Additionally, the equivalent truncated mooring system
cated mooring system can be designed, by employing the should be designed similar to the full-depth system. If there
genetic algorithm to optimise. is no buoy or clump weight used in the full-depth mooring
system, it is better to design the truncated mooring system
without those adjustments which may change the hydrody-
4.1. Truncation design criteria namic characteristic of the mooring system and be difficult
In order to reduce the uncertainties related to numerical ex- to simulate numerically.
trapolation of test results from a truncated to the full-depth
systems, one should strive at obtaining the same motion
responses of the floater as would result from the full-depth 4.2. Genetic algorithm
mooring. The truncated mooring system should preferably Genetic algorithm searches the solution space of a func-
have a similarity to the physical properties of the full-depth tion through the use of simulated evolution. In general, the
system. In practice, the design of truncated mooring system fittest individuals of any population tend to reproduce and
may follow the following criteria (Stansberg et al. 2002): survive to the next generation, thus improving successive
generations. However, inferior individuals can, by chance,
(1) Model the correct total, horizontal restoring force survive and also reproduce. Genetic algorithm has been
characteristic. shown to solve linear and nonlinear problems by exploring
(2) Model a representative level of mooring system all regions of the state space and exponentially exploit-
damping. ing promising areas through mutation, crossover and se-
(3) Model representative single-line tension character- lection operations applied to individuals in the population
istics. (Michalewicz 1994). In this paper, genetic algorithm is used
(4) Model the correct quasi-static coupling between to solve the multi-variable and multi-objective optimisation
vessel responses. problem in a large region.
The main procedure of the genetic algorithm is shown
In this study, main criteria are mathematically expressed as follows:
by the objective functions as shown in Equations (21)–(24)
– the functions should be minimised as follows: (1) Supply a population P0 of N individuals.
 (2) Calculate the fitness function value of each
 N   individual.
1  F xt,i − F xf,i 2
F1 =  (21) (3) Select the elites of individuals.
N i=1 F xf,i (4) Produce a new population by mutation and

 N   crossover.
1  F zt,i − F zf,i 2
F2 =  (22) (5) Repeat step (2) until termination.
N i=1 F zf,i (6) Print out the best solution.

 N  
1  Tt,i − Tf,i 2
F3 =  (23) In this paper, genetic algorithm is applied to fulfil the
N i=1 Tf,i optimisation.

 K  
1  Ct,i − Cf,i 2
F4 =  (24)
K j =1 Cf,i 4.3. Solution procedure
Based on the discussions above, the solution procedure used
where i is the step of the horizontal offset, and the distance is shown in Figure 7.
of each step is constant; j is the LF of the platform har-
monic oscillation; N is the total number of the offset steps;
K is the total number of frequencies of the harmonic os- 5. Case study
cillation; F xt,i and F xf,i are, respectively, the horizontal Considering three different type of full-depth mooring sys-
restoring force of truncated and full-depth mooring system tem used for some semi-submersible platform of 1500 m
 Ships and Offshore Structures 563

Table 1. Parameters of catenary full-depth mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.084 300 1352.4 620.34

Steel wire 0.0953 2000 378.8 784.64
Bottom chain 0.084 1500 1352.4 620.34
Pre-tension 1600 kN

The Deep Ocean Engineering Laboratory with max-

imum 10 m working water depth will be established in
Dalian University of Technology. Considering that the rea-
sonable model scale is 1:70, equivalent truncated mooring
system will be designed for 700 m water depths.
All the common types of deep-water mooring system
are considered in this paper. One catenary mooring system,
one semi-taut mooring system and one taut mooring system
used for some semi-submersible platform of 1500 m water
depths are considered as study case in this paper. The pa-
rameters of full-depth mooring line of each type of mooring
system are shown in Tables 1–3.
Based on the criteria discussed above, equivalent trun-
cated mooring system should not include the adjustment
such as buoy or clump weight. In order to curtail the cal-
culating duration, only the diameter D, the net submerged
weight P , the length L and the axial stiffness EA of the steel
wire are considered as the variables. The constraint condi-
tions of the variables are given in Equation (25). In this
paper, truncation factor ratio is defined as truncated water
depth divided by full water depth. For the catenary mooring

Figure 7. Flowchart for the solution procedure.

water depths, equivalent truncated mooring system is de-

signed, respectively, by using the program in this paper.
The layout of each type of mooring system is shown
in Figure 8. Each mooring line has three components: top
chain, steel wire and the bottom chain. Figure 8. Layout of the mooring lines.

Table 2. Parameters of semi-taut full-depth mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78

Steel wire 0.0953 1600 378.8 784.64
Bottom chain 0.0953 600 1345.8 579.78
Pre-tension 1800 kN
564 T. Fan et al.

Table 3. Parameters of taut full-depth mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78

Steel wire 0.0953 2800 378.8 784.64
Bottom chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78
Pre-tension 1700 kN

Table 4. Parameters of equivalent truncated catenary mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.084 140 1352.4 620.34

Steel wire 0.40 816.34 1547.44 1705.23
Bottom chain 0.084 700 1352.4 620.34

Table 5. Parameters of equivalent truncated semi-taut mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78

Steel wire 0.28 704.76 1717.80 676.45
Bottom chain 0.0953 280 1345.8 579.78

Table 6. Parameters of equivalent truncated taut mooring line.

Designation Diameter (m) Length (m) Net submerged weight (N m−1 ) Axial stiffness (MN)

Top chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78

Steel wire 0.62 1110.03 1238.86 407.95
Bottom chain 0.0953 75 1345.8 579.78

system, the top chain and the bottom chain are relatively factor ratio.
long. Therefore, both the top chain and the bottom chain
are directly truncated based on the truncation factor ratio. 100 ≤ l ≤ 1800; 100 ≤ EA ≤ 2000;
The top chain used in semi-taut and taut mooring system 100 ≤ P ≤ 2000; 0.05 ≤ D ≤ 1 (25)
is relatively short enough that there is no need to truncate
it. However, the bottom chain used in semi-taut mooring Based on the truncation criteria shown above in this
system should also be truncated based on the truncation paper, considering the similarity of the horizontal restor-
ing force of mooring system, the vertical restoring force of

Figure 9. The horizontal restoring force of catenary mooring Figure 10. The vertical restoring force of catenary mooring
system. system.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 565

mooring system, the representative tension of No. 5 moor-

ing line and the mooring-induced damping of mooring sys-
tem, the weighting objective function is gained as follows:

 N  
1  F xt,i − F xf,i 2
Fopt = wx 
N i=1 F xf,i

 N  
1  F zt,i − F zf,i 2
+ wz 
N i=1 F zf,i

 N  
1  Tt,i − Tf,i 2
+ wT 
N i=1 Tf,i

 K  
1  Ct,i − Cf,i 2
+ wc  (26)
Figure 11. The tension of No. 5 catenary mooring line. K j =1 Cf,i

where wx , wz , wT and wc are, respectively, the weighting

value of the horizontal restoring force, the vertical restoring
force, the representative tension and the mooring-induced
damping. In this paper, these weighting values are set as
0.4, 0.2, 0.2 and 0.2, respectively. During calculating the
mooring-induced damping for optimisation, the amplitude
of surge harmonic oscillation of the platform is considered
as 30 m, and the periods of surge harmonic oscillation are
considered as 30, 60, 90, 120, 200 and 300 s.
During the genetic algorithm process, some suggestions
to choose the parameters among the truncation design of
three different mooring layouts are given as follows:

(1) For the catenary mooring layout, the population

size, the terminated generation, the crossover frac-
Figure 12. The mooring-induced damping of catenary mooring
tion and the migration fraction are set as 20, 100,
system. 0.8 and 0.2, respectively.
(2) For the semi-taut mooring layout, the population
size, the terminated generation, the crossover frac-
tion and the migration fraction are set as 20, 200,
0.7 and 0.3, respectively.
(3) For the taut mooring layout, the population size,
the terminated generation, the crossover fraction
and the migration fraction are set as 20, 300, 0.7
and 0.3, respectively.
Applying the program developed in this paper, equiv-
alent truncated mooring system can be designed with ex-
cellent result. The diversity factor of the truncated mooring
system and the full-depth mooring system can be limited
around 4%. With the increase of the population size and
the terminated generation, the diversity factor decreases a
little, but not significantly.
The final designed parameters of each type of equiv-
Figure 13. The mooring-induced damping of catenary mooring alent truncated mooring system are shown in Tables 4–6.
system at different amplitude. (This figure is available in colour The static and damping characteristics of the equivalent
online.) truncated and full-depth mooring system are shown in
Figures 9–23.
566 T. Fan et al.

Figure 14. The horizontal restoring force of semi-taut mooring Figure 17. The mooring-induced damping of semi-taut mooring
system. system.

Figure 15. The vertical restoring force of semi-taut mooring Figure 18. The mooring-induced damping of semi-taut mooring
system. system at different amplitude. (This figure is available in colour
online.)

Figure 16. The tension of No. 5 semi-taut mooring line. Figure 19. The horizontal restoring force of taut mooring
system.
 Ships and Offshore Structures 567

Figure 20. The vertical restoring force of taut mooring system.

Figure 23. The mooring-induced damping of taut mooring sys-
tem at different amplitude. (This figure is available in colour
online.)

6. Conclusions
An innovative approach to design equivalent truncated
mooring system for hybrid model testing has been devel-
oped, based on the similarity of both static and damping
characteristics. According to this approach, an automatic
design program has been developed in this paper.
Some useful conclusions can be drawn as follows:

(1) The piecewise extrapolating method and the quasi-

static approach are quick and effect to calculate the
statics and damping of mooring system.
(2) Considering both the static and damping character-
istics, equivalent truncated mooring system can be
Figure 21. The tension of No. 5 taut mooring line. designed as similar as the full-depth mooring sys-
tem, only by means of optimising the parameters of
truncated mooring line without other adjustments,
such as buoy or clump weight.
(3) Equivalent truncated mooring system design pro-
gram in this paper can solve the multi-variable
and multi-objective optimisation problem in a large
region.
(4) Equivalent truncated mooring system design pro-
gram in this paper can equivalently truncate almost
any common type of deep-water mooring system
for hybrid model testing.
(5) According to the suggested optimising parameter in
the paper, equivalent truncated mooring system can
be designed with good results. The diversity factor
of the truncated mooring system and the full-depth
mooring system can be limited to around 4%.

Design of equivalent truncated mooring system is the

Figure 22. The mooring-induced damping of taut mooring
system. basis of hybrid model testing technique. Efficient optimised
design approach and design program can lay solid founda-
tion for the follow processes of hybrid model testing.
568 T. Fan et al.
Funding
This paper was financially supported in part by National Basic Re-
search Program of China [grant number 2011CB013702], [grant
number 2011CB013703]; National Natural Science Foundation of
China [grant number 51209037], [grant number 51221961]; China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project [grant number
2013T60287]; China Scholarship Council.
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