• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.77-85
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• 2012

A study was performed on the design of a mooring line to maintain the position of a floating WEC (wave energy conversion) system. The procedure to design a mooring line is set up and the safety of the designed mooring system is evaluated using commercial software, Orcaflex. The characteristics curve for one line is analyzed to determine the properties and pretension of a mooring line. While considering the ocean environmental condition and importance of a floating WEC system, a multi-line layout is determined. A 4-point mooring system with 4 lines shows the instability in the yaw motion of the floating WEC system under a designed ocean environmental condition. The redesigned 4-point mooring system with 8 lines is found to be safe on the condition of a harsh ocean environment. The floating WEC system with the redesigned mooring system also shows stable motion in surge and pitch under operating conditions. From a parametric study on the mooring line length, the extreme value of the mooring line tension is found to be very sensitive to the pretension and length of mooring line. The results of this study can contribute to the establishment of a design procedure for mooring lines.