Mooring with Multicomponent

Cable Systems
Relative to the present-day need for offshore operations involving the use of
K. A. Ansari moored vessels, mooring system design has become quite complex. Since a proper
choice of mooring line components in the form of anchors, clump weights, chains
Senior Engineer, and cables is vital for vessel station-keeping and mooring system survival, the
Marine Division, adequacy of the mooring system under consideration must be checked out by
Brown& Root, inc.
Houston, Tex. 77001
suitable analysis techniques. This paper gives a general discussion of the various
mooring line components available for use, presents an analysis tool to determine
the stiffness characteristics of a multicomponent cable including the effect of line
stretch, and demonstrates how these could be included in the dynamic analysis of an
offshore construction vessel moored by a multileg anchoring system. The maximum
limiting tension of the mooring line considered, which is a combination of anchors,
clump weights, chains and cables is determined from the several breaking strengths
and anchor capacities associated with the various cable configurations that can
occur. Finally, in order to illustrate a practical application, the dynamic response of
a moored production barge subjected to external environmental forces is examined.

Introduction
A floating ocean structure requires some form of a mooring siderations from a practical standpoint and has outlined the
system to maintain its position and control excursions within advantages of multicomponent cable systems over single-
imposed operational constraints. The performance of any component lines. Niedzwecki and Casarella [5] developed an
mooring system is a function of the size and type of vessel algorithm for solving the dimensionless form of the catenary
moored, the environmental forces acting, water depth and equation for mooring lines which are made up of chain or
soil conditions at the sea bed. Relative to present-day offshore rope or a combination of the two. However, clump weights
activity, newer vessels have become more complex and so and additional anchors are not treated in their work and line
have their mooring systems. Consequently, mooring system extensibility is not accounted for either.
design is no longer a~ simple task, since the various com- The purpose of this paper is to give a general discussion of
ponents of a mooring system must meet all the prescribed the various components in a mooring line, to present an
requirements pertinent to operating life, maximum per- analysis tool to determine the tension-displacement
missible excursions and the site environment. Under trying sea characteristics of a multicomponent cable.system comprised
conditions, a proper choice of anchors, clump weights, chains of anchors, clump weights, chains and cables and to show
and cables becomes vital for keeping a vessel on site and for how the effect of cable behavior can be included in the
mooring system survival. In designing a mooring system, the dynamic analysis of an offshore construction vessel. Specific
structure or vessel must first be defined and a preliminary applications would be pipelaying, derrick and trenching
selection of the mooring system must be done, following barges. The mathematical model of the mooring system in-
which suitable analysis techniques must be utilized to check cludes the effect of line stretch. In an effort to demonstrate a
out its adequacy and station-keeping capability. A possible practical application, the dynamic response of a typical
range of vessel excursions and cable tensions must then be production barge moored by a network of multicomponent
determined along with possible failure modes such as the cables and subjected to external environmental forces is also
breaking of a cable or the dragging of an anchor. Also, cost examined.
requirements must be evaluated relative to available budget
and then, finally, after an acceptable compromise is achieved, Selection of Mooring Line Components
the design must be finalized.
The behavior of a mooring line resembles that of a Mooring line components which include metallic and
nonlinear spring with tension-displacement characteristics nonmetallic ropes, chains, links and connecting hardware
which depend on its length, weight, elastic properties, anchor come in all types, materials and sizes and consequently, their
holding capacities and water depth. In a series of papers, choice which is a function of the application, life expectancy
Childers [1-4] has discussed mooring system design con- and the restraints involved can be painful and cumbersome.
Water depth is a demanding requirement for mooring and
oftentimes, tradeoffs have to be made between cost, ease of
Contributed by the Petroleum Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF
operation, weight, etc. The types of components that can be
ENERGY RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received at ASME Headquar- used are dictated by environmental conditions and
ters, February 11, 1980. operational factors. For instance, in areas where biological

62/Vol. 102, June 1980 Transactions of the ASME

Copyright © 1980 by ASME

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 attacks are probable, the use of fiber rope is not feasible. allowable load per leg, an excessive number of mooring legs
Design criteria for mooring line components are also based on may be required with fiber ropes. Also, stretch is excessive,
factors such as vessel size, environmental loads, operational being of the order of 20 percent, and this can be intolerable in
constraints, available line hardware, consequences of failure a tight mooring system. However, this feature could be used
and cost considerations. Various types of mooring lines and to advantage in rough weather conditions.
anchors are available for use, as given in the paragraphs
following. Chains. Chains are often used for mooring in shallow
water. With increase in water depth, the chain becomes less
Wire Ropes. Ropes made of metallic wire are used ex- feasible because of its weight, cost and the high loads it im-
tensively as mooring lines. These ropes have excellent poses on the vessel. As a result, mooring systems for deep
strength-to-size ratio but poor strength-to-weight ratio. They water applications often utilize lighter components. At times,
are easy to handle and their cost is relatively low. In many where necessary, chain lengths are inserted in deep sea
instances, they may be used to resist fish bites. However, they mooring lines to provide higher strength and abrasion
are susceptible to corrosion, fatigue and kinks. Often, resistance. Furthermore, because of its weight, a length of
metallic ropes are covered by a waterproof jacket of hard chain attached to an anchor will reduce the vertical pull on the
plastic such as polyurethane or polyethylene, thus providing anchor. The biggest advantage with chains is that the larger
protection against corrosion and abrasion. The large majority catenary allows more lateral vessel excursion. Other ad-
of wire ropes are made of carbon steel but stainless steels and vantages are their long life span and high strength.
other alloys are also becoming popular in ocean applications
because of their higher breaking stress and corrosion Hollow Cylindrical Links (HCL). In deep water, solid
resistance characteristics. Since a higher strength-to-weight chains will break under their own weight and wire ropes
ratio is a desirable characteristic for a mooring line, ropes cannot be obtained in large enough sizes to handle the forces
made of higher strength steels are generally preferred. Other involved. Fiber rope is probably alright although its strength
factors like size and weight being equal, the better rope for may only be marginal. Because of these drawbacks associated
mooring line use would be the stronger rope. Metallic ropes with chains and ropes, the use of hollow cylindrical links has
offer a definite advantage in that they have little ductility and been suggested. The hollow cylindrical link (HCL) is a
thus elongation is small and occurs only at high tension. The metallic tension member with the strength to weight-in-water
main disadvantages associated with metallic ropes are their ratio improved by addition of buoyancy such as floats. This is
weight and short life expectancy. Furthermore, too many an advanced concept developed to demonstrate the potential
mooring legs may be required with metallic wire rope in deep of meeting most extreme drag requirements. It is made up of
water applications. pinned links with each link incorporating an integral
buoyancy chamber and does not use winches. However, it is
Synthetic Fiber Ropes. Synthetic fiber ropes constructed more expensive than nylon or chain, but nonetheless holds
with nylon, dacron, kevlar, polypropylene, polyethylene, etc., promise of a long life span of 10 to 40 yr.
are often used as mooring line components. These ropes do
not corrode or deteriorate appreciably in sea water. Their Anchors. Proper selection of anchors is vital for vessel
strength to immersed weight ratio is excellent and they are station-keeping and mooring system survival. The function of
easy to handle. However, they are susceptible to fish bites and an anchor is to resist both horizontal and vertical components
consequently the use of small size fiber ropes in ocean depths of line tension. To this end, an anchor must be designed for a
where fish attacks are likely to occur has often resulted in good combination of deadweight and lateral pull resistance.
mooring losses. At high stresses, plastic flow of the fibers can In other words, the anchor must be large enough to provide
occur resulting in premature failure. Because of the low the necessary holding power but at the same time not so large

Nomenclature

A = effective stress area of cable segment

BjaiByyjBan = first-order damping coefficients of T = cable segment tension
vessel resistance to velocity r avg = average segment tension
BXJ. * ,Byy * ,Baa * = second-order damping coefficients of V = vertical component of segment tension
vessel resistance to velocity xv - submerged weight per unit length of
C = cable parameter ( = HI w) cable segment
E = effective elastic modulus of cable WX,W2 = anchor weights
segment x = surge displacement of vessel
F{ ,F2 = anchor holding factors Xc = horizontal projection of suspended
Fx,Fy = external time-varying environmental cable segment
forces on vessel Xco„ = line length on bottom
H = horizontal component of line tension XL = total horizontal line projection
/ = vessel mass moment of inertia about y = sway displacement of vessel
yaw axis Z = catenary height
m
xx>myy>mau — vessel added mass coefficients a = yaw displacement of vessel
M = vessel mass /3 = angle at bottom of catenary, bottom
M7 = external time-varying environmental angle at anchor
moment about yaw axis j3* = instantaneous angle that a mooring line
N = number of mooring lines used for makes with vessel longitudinal axis in
constraining the vessel horizontal plane
QxiQyiQa — nonlinear restoring forces and moment
induced by mooring system Single dots over x, y, and a denote velocities
s = length along cable Double dots over x, y, and a denote accelerations
Sc = suspended catenary length Subscripts are used throughout the paper to identify cable
SL = cable segment length segments, mooring lines, directions, etc.

Journal of Energy Resources Technology June 1980, Vol. 102/63

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 VESSEL FAIRLEADER
HORIZONTAL PROJECTION
HORIZONTAL TENSION

ii

SEGMENT ( 3 )
LENGTH = S L j 4
UNIT WEIGHT = w 3

LENGTH « S L 2 3
UNIT WEIGHT = w 2

SEGMENT ( I )
^—_ , ^

ANCHOR WITH HOLDING

LENGTH • S L
UNIT WEIGHT^ w,

OCEAN BOTTOM
f
V
FACTOR F,
Fig. 2 Uniform cable hanging freely under its own weight
Fig. 1 Typical multicomponent mooring line
vantage of such a system is the reliability stemming from the
minimized vessel motions. However, there are certain
disadvantages with this system and these are listed.
and heavy that the handling of it should become a problem. 1 It is difficult to pretension each of the mooring lines
The performance of an anchor is a function of its type, mass correctly.
and soil properties at the sea bed. Anchors are broadly 2 If an anchor is lost during rough weather, it is unlikely
classified in three categories—deadweight anchors or simply that it can be reset at that time, and the probability of damage
clumped weights, embedment anchors and piles. is high because of possible entanglement with other lines at
the surface.
Deadweight Anchors. Cast iron clumps, concrete castings, 3 Alignment of the vessel with the weather is not easy and
old railroad car wheels, bundles of anchor chain and almost several mooring line winches together with a manned crew to
anything that is compact can be classified as a deadweight operate these winches will be required on the barge for
anchor. This anchor is simple, inexpensive and offers good constant adjustment of the line tensions.
resistance to vertical pull. However, it is limited to ap-
plications where the horizontal pull on it is small. Analysis of Mooring System Behavior
Embedment Anchors. These are designed to dig into the sea The mooring system considered is a network of
bed as they are pulled until they are seated firmly in the ocean multicomponent lines, each of which is a combination of
bottom, thus offering a large resistance to lateral pull. anchors/clump weights, chains and cables as shown in Fig. 1.
Examples are the Navy Stockless, Stato, Danforth, Light- Since the station-keeping response of a moored construction
weight, Boss and Mushroom anchors which perform well on vessel is normally outside the exciting frequency range of the
sandy, muddy and clayey bottoms. The main disadvantages mooring system, the analysis assumes that the mooring lines
of this type of anchor are the necessity for dragging it on the only respond statically to the inplane motions of the vessel.
ocean bed until it digs and holds and its tendency to pull out Therefore, in the derivation of the various configuration
when a vertical force is applied. equations, use is made of the catenary relationships pertaining
to a static mooring system configuration and, where
Piles. Piles are vertical members of square or circular cross necessary, continuity of slope and displacement is in-
section that resist lateral as well as vertical pull. They can be corporated with due regard for force equilibrium and anchor
constructed with steel, reinforced concrete or prestressed holding power considerations. The maximum limiting tension
concrete. While the passive soil pressure provides the lateral is determined from the several breaking strengths and anchor
resistance, resistance to vertical pull is provided by the friction capacities associated with the various cable configurations
between the soil and the pile. The main advantage with piles is that can occur.
their high holding power in sandy soils. High installation
costs and difficulty of handling are the major drawbacks. Catenary Equations. For a uniform cable segment hanging
freely under its own weight w per unit length as shown in Fig.
Classes of Mooring Systems 2, the governing differential equation is
There are essentially two classes of flexible mooring cPz _ w ds
systems:
~d^r~"W ~dJ' ( )
1 single-leg moored system,
2 multileg moored system. where H is the horizontal component of the cable tension and
Single-Leg Moored System. This is basically a simple ds denotes an infinitesimal element of the cable. Upon in-
mooring system in which only one mooring line is used to tegration and inclusion of boundary conditions, the following
constrain the floating structure. The principal advantage of relationships for the horizontal projection Xc and the
this system is that it is simple because of fewer lines, anchors, catenary height Zc can be derived.
etc. However, there is one major drawback—if the mooring
line is lost for some reason, the vessel is at the mercy of the
environmental forces. w L H HJ
Multileg Moored System. When two or more mooring Zc=— [ c o s h ( — +sinh-> — ) -cosh(sinh-> — ) \ ,
lines are used to constrain the floating structure, the mooring
system is called a multileg moored system. The main ad- (2)

64/Vol. 102, June 1980 Transactions of the ASM E

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 ALL OF SEGMENTS I AND 2 AND SEGMENT I ONLY ON BOTTOM
PART OF SEGMENT 3 ON BOTTOM WITH BOTH ANCHORS HOLDING
WITH BOTH ANCHORS HOLDING.
Si >Lg3
!t!2_

Or 5O-

Fig. 3 Multicomponent line in configuration 1 Fig. 5 Multicomponent line in configuration 3

ALL OF SEGMENT I AND PART OF 4 PART OF SEGMENT I ONLY ON s . »•

SEGMENT 2 ON BOTTOM WITH "bv^V^ BOTTOM WITH ANCHOR I HOLDING. ^
BOTH ANCHORS HOLDING.
S
LI? S
L23_^r
t
N
10
ft
Sc23-**y
3 11
/» "
°l x °2 X
°23 X
<=34 y
N
xL 0k

Fig. 4 Multicomponent line in configuration 2

Fig. 6 Multicomponent line in configuration 4

where S c is the cable length and V/H represents the slope at

the bottom of the catenary. ZM = C3 [cosh ( - ^ - + s i n h - ' - ^ ) - cosh (sinh "' - M J ,

Configuration Equations. Several configurations of the

multicomponent mooring line can occur as shown in Figs. K4 = V} + w3 S CJ4 , Z= Zt2+Z2i+Zi4,
3-7. Using equations (2), the governing system equations can
be written in general as XL=XC + XC +XCu +Xma,

X = C
'n ' [sinn~' ("^r +tan/3, j - s i n h - ' (tanftjj, wjth the f 0 n o w j n g applicable to specific configurations as
1
given.
Configuration 1 (Fig. 3):
1 2 =C, [cosh[ —— + sinh~ 1 (tan/3, J J S
ci2 = S c 23 = I8l = 02L = 02* = Vx = V2L = V1R = K3 = 0,
r , v.-. (4)
-cosh[sinh-< (tan.,)]], ^ = j ^ f ) , ^ ^ + ^^ . ^

K,=/ftan/3,, Ku, = K,.+ w1SCl2,

Configuration 2 (Fig. 4):
S
q 2 = 01 = &L = 02« = K, = V2L = V2R=0,
V2R = W2 + V2L,l32L=t!m-1-^,
(5)
5 _ 5 £ +SL _Ar
c <23 12 23 c o n . 5 c 3 4 —$£34
23
|8 M =tan-» ^ , XC23 = C 2 [sinh" 1 ( - _
c 2L
Configuration 3 (Fig. 5):
V2R\ . , V2R "I
+ _j_sinh-._j, Sci2=pi = Vl = V2L=p1L=o, s C 2 3 =s, 2 3 ,
(6)
S
Z 23 =C 2 [cosh(^ + sinh-^)-cosh(sinh-'^)] l(3 ) c34=^> *„=SLl2. K„=/*tanft„

Configuration 4 (Fig. 6):

c
34
K3 = K2« + w2SC23, Xcu = C3 [sinh"' (
^ = ¥,=0, SCn=SLn-Xcm,
(7)
+ - ^ )-sinh )--h-g]. S
C23=SL23. SC}4=SLu

Journal of Energy Resources Technology June 1980, Vol. 102/65

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 Fig. 7 Multicomponent line in configuration 5

Configuration 5 (Fig. 7):

^ =0 (8)
*j/~._ —&i L
34' x,.,
In the foregoing equations, CK is the same as H/wK
(K= 1,2,3) and VK denotes the vertical tension component at
the point K on the mooring line. The subscripts 2R and 2L
refer to points on the line just to the right or left, respectively,
of anchor 2, and the quantity Xmn refers to the length of line
lying on the ocean bottom, which, in the analysis, is con-
sidered flat.
Cable Stretch. The effect of cable stretch is accounted for
by including effective elastic moduli and stress areas for the
different cable segments, the unit weights of which will now
vary with their lengths. The stretch of any cable segment (i), BEAM SEA
whose initial length under no load is SL.., would then ap- Fig. 8 Anchor pattern used in example
proximately be

(^avg)y^L
£,(/' = M), must be resorted to with some known quantity such as the
water depth employed as the iteration parameter. The
problem solution takes place according to the following
order.
where ( 7 ^ ) / / is the average tension in that segment, £,-,- is its
effective elastic modulus and Ay its effective stress area. 1 Determine the maximum horizontal tensions for the
various mooring line configurations occurring and thence the
Anchor Model. In the case of the multicomponent cable limiting condition // m a x to be used in the generation of the XL
using "gravity"-type anchors such as the "Navy Stockless," versus H table from consideration of the several breaking
the anchor holding power is a function of the configuration strengths, anchor capacities and line tensions associated with
the line is in. It is: these configurations.
WlFl + W2F2 in Configurations 1 and 2 2 Evaluate the static cable configuration pertinent to each
WXF\ + (W2 - Htan/3 2/; )F 2 in Configuration 3 H considered in the range of horizontal tension values
WlFl in Configuration 4 assigned and thus generate a table that gives the horizontal
(Wx - //tarn?! in Configuration 5, projection XL as a function of the horizontal tension H.
3 Convert the information generated in step 2 to a
where Wx and W2 are the anchor weights, Fx and F2 are their numerical table of cable tensions interpolated for discrete
holding factors, H is the horizontal tension component in the displacements between the barge fairleader and the fur-
line and J32R and (3, represent the bottom angles at the an- thermost anchor. This table is used for looking up or in-
chors. The anchor or anchors involved will start dragging terpolating a cable tension for a known vessel displacement at
toward the barge fairleader when the horizontal component any integration step in the vessel dynamic analysis.
of cable tension exceeds the total holding power of the an-
choring system. In Configuration 3, the anchor that is closer
to the vessel will lift off the ocean bottom and thus cease to Vessel Dynamics
hold when H becomes equal to or greater than the horizontal Under the assumption that the dynamic station-keeping
tension given by the relationship response can be defined by a three-degree-of-freedom
W2=Htanp2K, (9) mathematical model representing the inplane motions of
surge, sway and yaw, the equations of motion of a moored
which marks the transition from Configuration 3 to Con- construction vessel with lateral symmetry can be written as
figuration 4. The holding factors Fx and F2 which are func-
tions of many parameters such as anchor mass, anchor type Surge: (M+mxx)x + Bxxx+Bx,' \x\x+Qx{x,y,a) = Fs{t) (10)
and soil properties at the sea bed must be estimated as Sway: (M+ myy)y + Byyy + By/ \y\y+Qy(x,y,a)=Fy(t) (11)
realistically as possible, since mooring system behavior would
rely heavily on the magnitudes assigned to them. Yaw: (I+maa)d + Baad + Baa'\d\d + Qa(x,y,a)=Mz(t) (12)
Solution Technique. Since a direct solution cannot be where
obtained in the case of a multicomponent system, iteration x,y,a = surge, sway and yaw displacements {x

6 6 / V o l . 102, June 1980 Transactions of the ASME

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 -10 KIP
CLUMP WEIGHT

Fig. 9 Mathematical model of typical multicomponent line used in

example

S L 1 2 = 1 5 0 l t , S L 2 3 = 1 0 0 f t , S L 3 4 = 2 5 0 ft

Conversion factors: ft = 0.3048 m; lb-force = 4.44

is positive forward, y is positive port MOOR to aid in the design of multileg anchoring systems.
and a is a positive bow to port), This program performs a dynamic time-domain analysis of
x,y,a surge, sway and yaw velocities, horizontal motions of a construction vessel like a pipelaying,
x,y,a surge, sway and yaw accelerations, trenching or derrick barge moored in open waters by a net-
M v essel mass, work of single/multicomponent mooring lines and subjected
I vessel mass moment of inertia about to external environmental forces such as those from waves,
yaw axis through the barge center of wind, current, ice and pipe tension. The properties of each
mass, mooring line constraining the vessel can be separately
m
xx'myy<maa = frequency-independent time-average specified, providing the user a great flexibility in defining the
added mass coefficients, problem. The effects of system damping and cable stretch are
&xx *"yy »^*a« first-order damping coefficients of also included. Added mass coefficients, damping coefficients
vessel resistance to velocity, and external forces due to waves, wind, current, etc., must be
B •* R * R ' second-order damping coefficients of computed externally and user supplied for each problem.
vessel resistance to velocity, The solution technique which utilizes a variety of such
Qx,Qy,Qa nonlinear restoring forces and moment numerical methods as the fourth-order Runge-Kutta in-
induced by the mooring system, and tegration, the Lagrange interpolating polynomial and the
F F M any external time-varying forces and Newton-Raphson iteration is fast as well as efficient and
x» y > z moment from waves, wind, current, stable, making the program a cost-effective tool in
etc., acting on vessel. engineering design.
The following input is required to run the program:
Since the mean response of the vessel is assumed to be
independent of the coupling effects of the fluid mass, all Barge data: Barge dimensions, center of mass location,
cross-coupled added-mass terms are neglected in the analysis. weight, moment of inertia about yawing axis, number of
Cross-coupling damping terms are also excluded since these fairleaders and their locations, added mass and damping
are negligible at zero vessel speed for a vessel having lateral coefficients.
symmetry. Mooring system data: Anchor weights, holding factors,
While there are no restraining hydrostatic forces in inplane unit weights, unstretched lengths, breaking strengths and
motion, the nonlinear restoring forces and moment Qx, Qy material properties of cables and chains used, anchor pattern
and Qa due to the mooring system are the sum of the in- desired and line pretensions.
dividual contributions from Nmooring lines as follows: Loads data: Constant or time-dependent wind forces, wave
forces, current forces, ice forces, pipe tension.
N Output from the program consists of tabular listings which
Qx(x,y,a)=- Y^HjCOsH/, (13) provide dynamic results at discrete time intervals together
7=1 with a statistical evaluation of all motions and cable tensions
N indicating the efficiency of the mooring system used. Both
(14) digital line-printer plots and CALCOMP plots of motions and
Qy(x,y,a)=- ^//,-simV,
>=i
cable tensions can be obtained.
The program developed has been successfully utilized in
N
shallow as well as deep-water applications. Although it has
Qa(x,y,cc)= £ / / , ( x / s i m 3 / -y/cosfy'), (15) limitations in cases where out-of-plane vessel motions are
>=i large, it has proven very useful in the evaluation of the
station-keeping response of moored barges especially from a
where x/', yf are the x and y coordinates of the j th mooring system design standpoint.
fairleader, fy' is the instantaneous angle that they th mooring
line makes with the vessel longitudinal axis in the horizontal Practical Application
plane and Hj is the horizontal tension in they th mooring line
which is determined at each integration step for the As an application of the technique presented in this paper,
corresponding vessel displacement from the tension- the dynamic response of a typical floating production vessel
displacement table. The associated forcing functions Qx, Qy moored by a multileg system of six multicomponent cables in
and Qa are applied along with the other environmental forces 6 ft (1.82 m) random beam seas as shown in Fig. 8 is
in the subsequent integration step. This is numerically valid so examined. The vessel is 210 ft (64 m) x 60 ft (18.3 m) x 14 ft
long as the integration steps used are reasonably small. (4.3 m) with a 7.5 ft (2.3 m) draft in water 50 ft (15.2 m) deep.
Fig. 9 is the sketch of a typical mooring line employed.
Because of the shallow water depth, a 500 ft (152.4 m) length
Computer Program Description of 2-1/8 in. (54 mm) chain is used with a 10 kip (44.4 kN)
Using the analysis technique presented in this paper, Brown clump weight positioned 150 ft (45.7 m) from an anchor pile.
and Root, Inc., has developed the digital computer program For purposes of modeling, the anchor pile is treated as a 100-

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 LIMITING TENSION H M A x
AT WHICH ANCHOR
STARTS DRAGGING

NO LINE ON OCEAN
BOTTOM AT THIS POINT-

o
CLUMP WErGHT LIFTS
OFF OCEAN BOTTOM

ALL LINE FORWARD OF

CLUMP WEIGHT LIFTS
OFF OCEAN BOTTOM

•I
440 455 470 485 500
HORIZONTAL PROJECTION ( X L ) , FEET
Fig. 10 Tension-displacement characteristics of multicomponent
line. Conversion factors: ft = 0.3048 m; lb-force = 4.44

SWAY MOTION

TIME, SECONDS

TENSION IN LINE 2
C0NFIG.4
f— MAXIMUM LINE TENSION

CONFIG. 3
II •"AVERAGE LINE TENSION II ^ L I N E PRETENSION .

C0NFIG.2
{ \lj\ /S A A I I A f\ A. A A
CONFIG. I
1
V 1 ^ / Y y *"\^*^

1
vy* Xfc / S. '
f \ 1 KJ \s Vr v
1

TIME, SECONDS

Fig. 11 Sway motion and line tension time histories. Conversion

factors: ft = 0.3048 m; lb-force = 4.44 Newtons

kip (444-kN) anchor and the chain forward of the clump decreasing and the mooring line configuration steadily
weight is broken up into two segments. changes as shown in this figure until the limiting condition is
Average added mass coefficients for surge, sway and yaw reached. In this example, the limiting tension Hmax is the one
motions were estimated using formulas suggested in the at which the anchor starts dragging in Configuration 5. The
literature [6-9] for ship-shaped structures. Steady en- hump between points C and D on the curve is due to the
vironmental loadings from winds and current were calculated presence of the clump weight which lifts off the ocean bottom
by the methods given in reference [10] and wave forces were at the horizontal tension level denoted by point C.
generated using the ISSC wave spectrum equation (11). For this type of shallow water mooring system, the
Numerical results were obtained with the help of the Brown horizontal tension induced in the mooring line for any vessel
and Root in-house computer program MOOR. Fig. 10 shows displacement is very sensitive to the pretension level in the
the characteristic shape of the tension-displacement curve line. That is, a 10-kip (44.4-kN) horizontal pretension would
generated for the multicomponent line. As the line tension is generate a horizontal tension of 30 kips (133.44 kN) for a 5 ft
gradually increased, the line length on bottom starts (1.5 m) displacement while a 25-kip (11.2-kN) horizontal

68/Vol. 102, June 1980 Transactions of the ASME

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 pretension would generate a horizontal tension of 320 kips characteristics of a mooring system can be tailored to any
(1423.4 kN) for the same displacement. Thus, higher specified requirements.
pretensions would generate higher line tensions for the same
vessel displacement and consequently higher maximum values Acknowledgment
also. On the contrary, if the pretensions are too low, the
restoring forces generated in the mooring lines would not be The author is grateful to Brown and Root, Inc., Houston,
large enough to limit the vessel displacements within the Texas for permission to publish this work and to R. D. Haun
required operational constraints. As a result, while the for his help with the computer programming.
maximum values of tension would remain low, the vessel References
displacements themselves could get quite large.
Figure 11 shows the time history of the sway motion of the 1 Childers, M. A., "Mooring Systems for Hostile Waters," Petroleum
Engineer, May 1973, pp. 58-70.
vessel and the tension in line 2 obtained with an initial line 2 Childers, M. A., "Deep Water Mooring—Part I, Environmental Factors
pretension of about 20 kips (89 kN). The surge and yaw Control Station Keeping Methods," Petroleum Engineer, Vol. 10, Sept. 1974,
motions were observed to be small and are therefore not pp.36-58.
plotted. The results indicate that the mooring system func- 3 Childers, M. A., "Deep Water Mooring—Part II, The Ultradeep Water
Spread Mooring System," Petroleum Engineer, Vol. 2, Oct. 1974, pp. 108-118.
tions mostly in configurations 1 to 3 with the clump weight 4 Childers, M. A., "Deep Water Mooring—Part III, Equipment for
sitting on the ocean bottom. At maximum vessel sway the Handling the Ultradeep Water Spread Mooring System," Petroleum Engineer,
clump weight has been lifted off the ocean bottom, but the Vol. 5, May 1975, pp. 114-132.
line tension is only 30 percent of its limiting value and the 5 Niedzwecki, J. M., and Casarella, M. J., "On the Design of Mooring
Lines for Deep Water Applications," ASME Paper No. 75-WA/OCE-l, 1975.
anchor still holds. Thus, the multicomponent mooring system 6 Wilson, B. W., "Mooring of Ships Exposed to Waves," Texas A and M
has been utilized in a satisfactory manner. University, Technical Report No. 204-2, Nov. 1960.
7 Lewis, F. M., "Hull Vibration of Ships," Principles of Naval Ar-
Conclusion chitecture, SNAME, New York, 1967, pp. 718-751.
8 Costa, F. V., "Analytic Study of the Problem of Berthing—Analytical
This paper presents a general discussion on selection of Treatment of Problems of Berthing and Mooring Ships," Proceedings of the
Nato Advanced Study Institute, ASCE Publication, 1965, pp. 157-173.
mooring line components along with an analysis technique to 9 Salveson, N., Tuck, E. O., and Faltinson, O., "Ship Motions and Sea
include the effect of multicomponent cable behavior in the Loads," SNAME Transactions, Vol. 78, 1970, pp. 250-287.
dynamic analysis of a moored offshore construction vessel. It 10 Remery, G. F. M., and Van Oortmersson, G., "The Mean Wave, Wind
is difficult to pinpoint a specific mooring system unless the and Current Forces on Offshore Structures and Their Role in the Design of
Mooring Systems," Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Paper OTC
physical features of the vessel, the environmental conditions 1741,1973.
and the operational constraints are known explicitly. 11 Michel, W. H., "Sea Spectra Simplified," Marine Technology, Jan.
However, by proper selection of the line parameters, the 1968, pp.17-30.

Journal of Energy Resources Technology June 1980, Vol. 102/69

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