The Behaviour of LNG Carrier Moored to a Jetty Exposed to Waves,Swell,Unsteady Wind and Current

—Most terminals for tankers are piers and sea islands,while other types include single pointmoorings and multiple-buoy moorings.The LNG and LPG carrier moored to the jetty is a very commonterminal for transfer of gas in open seas.It is important to estimate the motions and line tensions of theLNG carrier when it moors to a jetty in metocean environment.Normally,the motions of the LNG carrierwould be restricted by the loading arm,which is connected to LNG carrier＇s manifold.An example of125,000m~3 LNG carrier moored to a jetty exposed to a set of environment conditions is given.Amathematical model which is based on the equations of motion in the time domain is used to the analysisof LNG moored to an offshore jetty exposed to waves,swell,wind and current.By means of a time do-main computer program TERMSIM computations are carried out to determine and optimize the lay-outand/or orientation of the jetty and mooring gear in terms of forces in mooring lines and fenders and theenvelope of motions of the loadi     

Measurements of static and dynamic mooring line damping and their importance for floating WEC devices

The dynamic response of the mooring line will be a dominant factor to consider in their use for the station keeping of a wave energy converter (WEC). Due to the relatively small size of WECs and their being moored in relatively shallow waters the effect of waves, tide and current can be of greater significance than for other floating offshore systems. Axial line stretching and high-frequency ‘top-end’ dynamics can importantly modify damping and top-end loading.If a ‘farm’ of devices is to be considered then limitations in sea space may necessitate that the devices be relatively densely packed. This will mean that the ‘footprint’ of the mooring should be constrained, to ensure that the moorings from each device do not interfere and this will have great significance for the loading experienced by the line. One must also consider how the mooring system might change the response of the WEC and so alter its ability to extract power from the waves. Unlike a typical offshore system, the design of moorings for a WEC device must consider reliability and survivability, and the need to ensure efficient energy conversion.The design and operation of a chain mooring for a WEC is considered here. Generic experimental measurements of mooring line damping were conducted in the Heriot-Watt University wave basin at a scale of 1:10. The measurements were conducted on a single mooring line for surge motions and include the study of axial stretching and high top-end dynamics. The laboratory procedures were designed to resemble tests undertaken earlier at ‘full’ scale in 24 m water depth. The measurements were also compared with numerical studies. The experimental findings for WEC devices, supports the conclusion that dynamic mooring line motion will be an important variable, needing to be considered carefully within the design.     

Experimental studies on the slowly varying drift motion of a berthed container ship model

The effects of free-surface waves on the floating structures are of great importance in the offshore industry. Among the six degrees of motions of a surface ship the absence of restoring forces in surge, sway and yaw led to critical situations for moored ships in the recent times. The order of forces in horizontal plane and their exciting frequencies are matters of interest. The resonance with the presence of moored chains led to many accidents in the recent past. The lines in dry conditions may not give good damping and in wet condition they may trigger the system to chaotic motions and jumps. Two different loading conditions of a container ship model are tested with waves in laboratory conditions in two different drafts. The mooring lines are chosen as per scale law and the energy under the response spectrum is determined from the plots. The results give new insights into the movement of a berthed ships subjected to waves. Response of the moored ship to different loading conditions in different water depths are discussed in this paper. The paper gives the order of energy due to first-order and slowly varying movement of a berthed container model in a towing tank.     

Analytical expressions of the bifurcation boundaries for symmetric spread mooring systems

For a general symmetric Spread Mooring System .(SMS), the five necessary and sufficient conditions for stability are derived analytically. It is shown that only two conditions are dominant in symmetric ship moorings. The equations derived in this paper provide analytical means for determining static and dynamic loss of stability, as well as elementary singularities and roots to chaos, of symmetric SMS configurations, such as those recommended by the American Petroleum Institute. Thus, first it becomes easy to identify the morphogenesis occurring when a bifurcation boundary is crossed; and second, it is possible to determine the dependence of a symmetric SMS on any design parameter—such as mooring line length, orientation, pretension, etc. Theoretical results are verified by comparison to numerical results generated with nonlinear dynamics and codimension one and two bifurcation theory. The mathematical model of the SMS consists of the nonlinear third order manoeuvring equations without memory of the horizontal plane slow motion dynamics—surge, sway, and yaw—of a vessel moored to several terminals. Mooring lines are modeled as synthetic nylon ropes, chains, or steel cables. External excitation consists of time independent current, wind, and mean wave drift forces.     

Dynamics of a moored barge under regular and random waves

Developments in the study of wave forces and construction techniques in deep water by the offshore oil industry have increased the use of marine terminals at deep water locations. A thorough understanding of moored ship dynamics when subjected to waves, wind and current combined with the use of flexible mooring lines would help to design berthing terminals for exposed areas. In this paper, the three dimensional problem of wave interactions with a barge moored to a single point is dealt with, based on the finite element method. The effect of flexibility of the mooring line and the point of mooring on the response of the barge as well as the mooring line tension is investigated. The paper compares the numerical results with model tests carried out on a barge moored to a fixed support under regular and random waves in head sea. The effect of stiffness of the mooring line on the barge response for different mooring points is discussed, which would be useful for the designers. The effect of viscous damping is also considered. The analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental results in both regular and random waves.     

多船旁靠系泊作业关键特性试验研究

旁靠带缆作业是实现海上补给、模块吊运、原油外输等运转的常用方式,针对浮式平台与两艘供应船以旁靠方式作业涉及的关键特征进行水池模型试验研究,阐述了旁靠带缆系统和护舷设备的属性和需遵循的规范衡准,深入分析旁靠系缆的张力、护舷的挤压力、船体之间的相对运动特征随有效波高和波浪入射角度等环境参数的变化规律,确定了适用于多船旁靠作业的海况条件。研究表明:波浪能量随有效波高的增大呈现非线性增大趋势,是影响旁靠作业窗口期的主要外部因素,而波浪入射角度对旁靠作业的影响程度与海况有较大关系;三船在纵荡、横荡以及艏摇方向具有明显的跟随性特点,运动响应的幅值和相位比较接近,浮式平台与供应船之间的相对运动较小,完全可满足作业要求。垂荡、横摇以及纵摇这三个波频方向,各船的运动并不同步,相对运动大,是影响多船旁靠作业窗口期的主要因素;有效波高为2.5 m的海况条件可满足多船旁靠要求。相关结论为实际的工程操作提供参考。     

Extreme value analysis in a multivariate offshore environment

Floating offshore systems are exposed to a multivariate environment with wind, waves and current all making a significant contribution to the mooring forces. The design of such systems requires an appreciation of the extreme conditions but the concept of the return period value has to be extended to reflect multiple environmental variables. This study examines the practicalities of employing a multivariate point process model in extreme value analyses, using a moored semi-submersible and its responses to the wind and waves as an example. The output from this illustrative bivariate analysis includes both estimates of the 50-year mooring force and also return period contours which indicate the likely combinations of wind and wave which might give rise to the 50-year condition.     

Research on Motion Performance of the Mobile Double-Causeway Pier System

Mobile offshore double-causeway pier system, a type of seashore unloading equipment, consists of two groups of multiple connected semi-submersible modules. This structure has wide application because most of the middle or mini type of vessels and ships can be moored to it. Based on the analysis of computational methods of multi-body motion response, a hydrodynamic model is set up and the three-dimensional potential theory in finite depth is adopted to calculate the three-dimensional motion response of this system. The double P-M spectrum is used to analyze the motion response in irregular waves. Different wave directions are specially taken into consideration, due to their various effects to the motion response. Furthermore, the calculated result is compared with that of the experiment, and it is proved that sway, heave, pitch and yaw motion are greatly constrained by mooring system. The comparison also indicates that the model can forecast the motion performance of the target, and that the calculated result can also be used as reference in connector and mooring system design.     

Cause and countermeasure of long-period oscillations of moored ships and the quantification of surge and heave amplitudes

Long-period oscillations of moored ships whose periods are about 1 or 2 min cause many troubles in many ports and harbours. It is necessary to investigate these phenomena and verify their causes and countermeasures in each case because they are strongly dependent on the environment of each port and harbour. From this point of view, long-period oscillations of moored ships in the Port of Shibushi in Japan were investigated by means of wave observations, the image processing of moored ship motions using the video camera and motion-capture software and numerical simulations. From observation results, the relationship between offshore long-period waves and long-period oscillations of moored ships was recognized and surge and heave amplitudes were quantified by using wave data in order to forecast moored ship motions. Furthermore, from observation and numerical results, it was revealed that long-period waves with the peak period of 120 s from the offshore typhoon kept or exaggerated the local harbour oscillation of 60–70 s and it caused long-period oscillations of moored ships. Numerical results in case of reducing the reflection coefficient of the target berth implied that it ceased the local harbour oscillation and it would give an effective countermeasure to reduce long-period oscillations of moored ships in the Port of Shibushi.     

Nonlinear response of a moored buoy

The nonlinear dynamic analysis of a multipoint slack moored buoy is performed under the action of first and second order wave forces. The nonlinearity of the system is caused by the geometric nonlinearity of the mooring lines. The resulting nonlinear equation of motion is solved by an incremental time marching scheme. The nonlinear responses of the system are analysed to investigate different kinds of dynamic instability phenomena that may arise due to the nonlinearity of the system. As an illustrative example, a hollow cylindrical buoy anchored to the sea bed by means of six slack mooring lines is considered. The responses of the system are obtained and analysed for three regular waves namely, 5 m/5 s, 12 m/10 s and 18 m/15 s. The results of the study show that different kinds of instability phenomena like nT subharmonic oscillations, symmetry breaking bifurcation and aperiodic responses may occur in slack mooring systems. Further, a second order wave force may considerably influence the dynamic stability of such systems.     

Development of Synthetic Fiber-Reinforced Electro-Optical-Mechanical Cables for Use With Moored Buoy Observatories

We consider an alternative to traditional high-modulus synthetic electro-optical-mechanical (EOM) mooring cables that are being used in single-point moorings for deep-ocean observatories. The alternative cable design is based on using low-modulus nylon or polyester fibers as the strength member. High-modulus EOM cables such as those that use Vectran fibers as the strength member are usually constructed with the conductors and optical fibers in the core and the strength member on the outside. The key aspect of the new design is that the strength member is placed in the center of the cable and the conductors and fibers are wrapped around the outside at a high helix angle to accommodate stretching of the center-strength-member. A comparison of the static and dynamic responses of moorings constructed with nylon, polyester, and Vectran EOM cables (for mooring scopes of 1.1 and 1.2 and deployment depths of 1800, 3000, and 5000 m) shows that the maximum total tensions of moorings made with nylon EOM cables are lowest under all conditions. Differences between the nylon and the Vectran EOM cable moorings are due principally to the differences in the dynamic tensions. Differences between the nylon and the polyester EOM cable moorings are due mainly to differences in static tensions caused by the higher specific gravity of polyester fibers. Reduction in the scope of all the moorings from 1.2 to 1.1 resulted in significantly higher tensions for the polyester and Vectran EOM cable moorings but only slightly higher tensions for the nylon EOM cable moorings     

Influence of Regular Wave and Ship Characteristics on Mooring Force Prediction by Data-Driven Model

The study of mooring forces is an important issue in marine engineering and offshore structures. Although being widely applied in mooring system, numerical simulations suffer from difficulties in their multivariate and nonlinear modeling. Data-driven model is employed in this paper to predict the mooring forces in different lines, which is a new attempt to study the mooring forces. The height and period of regular wave, length of berth, ship load, draft and rolling period are considered as potential influencing factors. Input variables are determined using mutual information(MI) and principal component analysis(PCA), and imported to an artificial neural network(NN) model for prediction. With study case of 200 and 300 thousand tons ships experimental data obtained in Dalian University of Technology, MI is found to be more appropriate to provide effective input variables than PCA. Although the three factors regarding ship characteristics are highly correlated, it is recommended to input all of them to the NN model.The accuracy of predicting aft spring line force attains as high as 91.2%. The present paper demonstrates the feasibility of MI-NN model in mapping the mooring forces and their influencing factors.     

Extreme motion response analysis of moored semi-submersibles

The motion response prediction of offshore structures may be carried out using time domain or frequency domain models or model tests. The frequency domain analysis uses the simplified, linearised form of the motion equations and it is very economical. The time domain analysis, unlike frequency domain models, is adequate to deal with non-linearities such as viscous damping and mooring forces, but it requires sophisticated solution techniques and it is expensive to employ. For moored semisubmersibles time domain techniques must be employed since there are strong nonlinearities in the system due to mooring line stiffness and damping and viscous drag forces. In the first part of this paper a time domain model to predict the dynamic response of a semi-submersibles are developed and the effect of thrusters and mooring line damping are incorporated into the time domain model. In the second part time domain simulations are carried out to find the total extreme motions and mooring forces.     

Wave driven free surface motion in the gap between a tanker and an FLNG barge

When two vessels are moored side-by-side with a narrow gap between them, intense free surface motions may be excited in the gap as a result of complex hydrodynamic interactions. These influence the motions of the two vessels, and the forces in any moorings. The present paper uses first and second order wave diffraction analysis to investigate this phenomenon. Key theoretical aspects of the numerical analysis are first summarised, including the vital need to suppress “irregular frequency” effects; and results are given to validate the code used. The case of a tanker alongside a large floating FLNG barge is then considered in detail.     

Stiffness of mooring lines and performance of floating breakwater in three dimensions

In the present paper, the performance of a moored floating breakwater under the action of normal incident waves is investigated in the frequency domain. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the floating body is coupled with a static and dynamic model of the mooring lines, using an iterative procedure. The stiffness coefficients of the mooring lines in six degrees of freedom of the floating breakwater are derived based on the differential changes of mooring lines' tensions caused by the static motions of the floating body. The model of the moored floating system is compared with experimental and numerical results of other investigators. An extensive parametric study is performed to investigate the effect of different configurations (length of mooring lines and draft) on the performance of the moored floating breakwater. The draft of the floating breakwater is changed through the appropriate modification of mooring lines' length. Numerical results demonstrate the effects of the wave characteristics and mooring lines' conditions (slack-taut). The existence of ‘optimum’ configuration of the moored floating breakwater in terms of wave elevation coefficients and mooring lines' forces is clearly demonstrated, through a decision framework.     

Dynamic behavior of offshore spar platforms under regular sea waves

Many innovative floating offshore structures have been proposed for cost effectiveness of oil and gas exploration and production in water depths exceeding one thousand meters in recent years. One such type of platform is the offshore floating Spar platform. The Spar platform is modelled as a rigid body with six degrees-of-freedom, connected to the sea floor by multi-component catenary mooring lines, which are attached to the Spar platform at the fairleads. The response dependent stiffness matrix consists of two parts (a) the hydrostatics provide restoring force in heave, roll and pitch, (b) the mooring lines provide the restoring force which are represented here by nonlinear horizontal springs. A unidirectional regular wave model is used for computing the incident wave kinematics by Airy’s wave theory and force by Morison’s equation. The response analysis is performed in time domain to solve the dynamic behavior of the moored Spar platform as an integrated system using the iterative incremental Newmark’s Beta approach. Numerical studies are conducted for sea state conditions with and without coupling of degrees-of-freedom.     

Measuring directional wave spectra using the 3D-ACM WAVE on fixedand taut-wire moorings

Field data were analyzed from a simultaneous deployment of two 3D-ACM WAVE instruments; one on a fixed seabed frame in the nearshore zone, and the other further offshore on a taut-wire mooring. An intercomparison of measurements of vertical and horizontal wave-orbital currents with pressures was used to evaluate the velocity sensor response under field conditions. Results using the fixed frame have validated the measured horizontal wave-orbital velocities, but found the vertical velocities to be less coherent with the pressure time-series. The influence of the instrument mooring system on the velocity measurements was investigated. The oscillation of the taut-wire mooring was found to influence the magnitude of the measured horizontal wave-orbital velocities and induce a phase lag between velocity and sea-surface elevation. Examination of other data from similar taut-wire moorings indicates a systematic relationship between the length of the mooring cable and the measured phase lag, consistent with the behavior of the mooring system considered as a forced, linearly damped oscillator. A comparison was made between the spectra of wave direction derived from both velocity and pressure data with that derived solely from velocity data. The results show a high coherence for the fixed mooring, but significant directional variability in the higher frequencies (>0.13 Hz) on the taut-wire mooring we employed, which we attribute to the mooring oscillation. The analysis further indicates that on taut-wire moorings, the spectra of wave direction should be resolved solely from velocity data. Using these findings, directional wave spectra were produced for the nearshore and offshore sites from 233 coincident events over a two-month period, and these data are presented in a time-averaged spectral format     

Dynamics of large-truncated mooring systems coupled with a catenary moored semi-submersible

With the floating structures pushing their activities to the ultra-deep water,model tests have presented a challenge due to the limitation of the existing wave basins.Therefore,the concept of truncated mooring system is implemented to replace the full depth mooring system in the model tests,which aims to have the same dynamic responses as the full depth system.The truncated mooring system plays such a significant role that extra attention should be paid to the mooring systems with large truncation factor.Three different types of large truncation factor mooring system are being employed in the simulations,including the homogenously truncated mooring system,non-homogenously truncated mooring system and simplified truncated mooring system.A catenary moored semi-submersible operating at 1000 m water depth is presented.In addition,truncated mooring systems are proposed at the truncated water depth of 200 m.In order to explore the applicability of these truncated mooring systems,numerical simulations of the platform’s surge free decay interacting with three different styles of truncated mooring systems are studied in calm water.Furthermore,the mooring-induced damping of the truncated mooring systems is simulated in the regular wave.Finally,the platform motion responses and mooring line dynamics are simulated in irregular wave.All these simulations are implemented by employing full time domain coupled dynamic analysis,and the results are compared with those of the full depth simulations in the same cases.The results show that the mooring-induced damping plays a significant role in platform motion responses,and all truncated mooring systems are suitable for model tests with appropriate truncated mooring line diameters.However,a large diameter is needed for simplified truncated mooring lines.The suggestions are given to the selection of truncated mooring system for different situations as well as to the truncated mooring design criteria.     

浪流作用下系泊船舶撞击力和系缆力试验研究

以某25万吨矿石码头工程为例,分别进行了单流、单浪和浪流共同作用下,系泊船舶撞击力和系缆力试验。研究了不同水位、不同船舶载度、不同浪流夹角,单流、单浪和浪流共同作用时对船舶撞击力和系缆力的影响。分析了该码头工程护舷和缆绳的布置情况,为工程设计提供了依据。