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com
 Mooring System

AGENDA: Overview

Mooring Configurations

Loading Mechanism of Moored Floaters

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 Overview
• Primarily for station keeping of floating structures within a
specified tolerance; offset limit determined from riser
configuration.

• Requirement: Maintain the position of floating structures

under extreme loading conditions & ensure survivability.

• Consists of freely hanging lines connecting surface

platforms to the seabed by means of anchors/piles.

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 Mooring Configurations
Spread Mooring

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 Mooring Configurations
Spread Mooring:
• Sensitive to direction of environmental loading;
generally, positions the vessel bow fixed in the heading
of predominant environmental loads.

• Conventional & widely adopted for ship-shaped floaters.

• Far less mechanical complications and thus cheaper than

turrets

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 Mooring Configurations
Turret mooring

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 Mooring Configurations
Turret mooring:
• Single Point Mooring (SPM) primarily applied to ship-
shaped floaters; can be internal or external

• Compliant to avoid excessive forces on the platform;

allows vessels to weathervane

• Minimizes muti-directional environmental loading on the

vessel by heading into the prevailing weather.

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 Mooring Configurations
Turret mooring

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 Loading Mechanism of Moored Floaters
Excitation forces for any specific site condition result
from
• Current; assumed constant but varies spatially with
WD depending on profile & direction.

• Wind loading; generally assumed constant but

responses can vary due to gusting

• Wave forces; results in time-varying vessel motions

in 6 dof (surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch & yaw).
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 Loading Mechanism of Moored Floaters
Floating vessel damping force contributors include:

• Wind damping from frictional drag between fluid

(air) & the vessel.

• Viscous flow damping due to relative motion

between the hull & fluid giving rise to Drag forces.

• Wave drift damping on vessel hull resulting from

changes in vessel drift velocity.
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 Mooring Configurations

Mooring System Modelling

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 Loading Mechanism of Moored Floaters
Typical mooring designs seek to optimize the response of
mooring systems such that:
• Excursions of the host remain within allowable flexible riser
offsets

• Ensure that line tensions are within allowable values

• Requires considerable iterations to optimize system for a

particular site-specific condition

• Potential consequent uncertainties result in line damping &

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tension predictions © Subsea7 - 2023 subsea7.com
 Mooring Design Constraints
Symmetric spread of mooring lines generally simple in terms of
design, asymmetric spreads may be required to
optimize performance.

Class rules & Industry Recommended Practices specify mooring

design requirements
• API RP 2SK; define acceptance criteria for mooring tension,
offset, anchor dynamic FoS, chain corrosion allowances, etc
• Certification rules (DNV 2001) provide guidance on mooring
related issues with emphasis on catenary analysis (chain-
wire, etc)
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 Mooring Design Constraints
Criteria needing to be considered include
• Directionality of weather – e.g., if storms approach from a
specific weather window, it may be advantageous to bias
mooring towards balancing associated forces.
• Field architecture – spatial layout of subsea equipment &
adjoining pipelines may restrict the positioning of lines and
anchors.
• Riser systems – avoiding the potential clashing of risers with
mooring lines may impose limitations online positioning.
• Geo-hazards – presence of gas chimneys are to be avoided in
sighting mooring.
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 Design Analysis
Design analysis methodology covers
• Static design

• Quasi-Static design

• Dynamic design

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 Static Design
Initial analyses stage of mooring system concept design
• Determines the equilibrium between constant or mean
environmental loads & the line restoring forces

• Establish load/excursion characteristics for single line or

mooring spread ignoring fluid forces on the line

• Ensures that line tensions are within allowable values

• Utilizes the catenary lines algorithm to calculate forces

exerted on the vessel
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