Numerical study on the optimised design of mooring truncated systems for different ocean basins

What is it about?

Experimental tests are an important source of information for the design of floating production systems. Worldwide, there are few ocean basins with capabilities to reproduce ultra-deep-water scenarios, and they are characterised by having large dimensions. Even so, an equivalent truncated mooring/riser system has to be used. It is a technological challenge to reproduce with a truncated mooring system the coupled static responses for a semisubmersible considering the complete offset range. In this work, a methodology and computational tool based on a genetic algorithm is applied to optimise the design of a truncated equivalent mooring system in terms of the static responses. The prototype system is a semisubmersible platform for 2000 m water depth. The ocean basins considered in this study are OTRC, MARIN, MARINTEK and LABOCEANO. Results are satisfactory for every ocean basin studied which means that the methodology and computational tool applied is robust and efficient for different deep-water experimental design scenario.

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