• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2024

Rapid progress is being made in foundational technology research and engineering for the construction of floating offshore wind farms. There is active development of technology for detachable mooring systems, which have strengths in addressing maintenance issues that arise in floating offshore wind farms and enhance their economic viability. Conventional detachable mooring systems use Kenter links inserted into the middle of mooring chains, which require excessive time for retrieval by Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels during detachment operations. Moreover, these operations pose risks of link damage and accidents. Therefore, there is a demand for the development of a new concept of detachable mooring systems. The proposed detachable mooring system in this study simultaneously integrates a fairlead chain stoppers (FCS) and submersible mooring pulleys (SMP), which enables all operations to be conducted on the AHTS vessel without underwater tasks. This study detailed the design and safety evaluation of the SMP, a core component of the detachable mooring system, based on the minimum breaking load (MBL) of selected mooring lines according to the capacity of the floating platform. It referenced international codes (AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings D5, Pin-Connected Members) for design verification and performed finite element analysis to evaluate the strength of major components in installation and operation scenarios. Additionally, procedures and techniques for evaluating the structural strength of components under uncertain boundary conditions were proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.479-487
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• 2023

Recently, the destructive power of typhoons is continuously increasing owing to global warming. In a situation where the installation of floating wind turbines is increasing worldwide, concerns about the huge loss and collapse of floating offshore wind turbines owing to strong typhoons are deepening. A new type of disconnectable mooring system must be developed for the safe operation of floating offshore wind turbines. A new submersible mooring pulley considered in this study is devised to more easily attach or detach the floating of shore wind turbine with mooring lines compared with other disconnectable mooring apparatuses. To investigate the structural safety of the initial design of submersible mooring pulley that can be applied to an 8MW-class floating type offshore wind turbine, scale-down structural models were developed using a 3-D printer and structural tests were performed on the models. For the structural tests of the scale-down models, tensile specimens of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material that was used in the 3-D printing were prepared, and the material properties were evaluated by conducting the tensile tests. The finite element analysis (FEA) of submersible mooring pulley was performed by applying the material properties obtained from the tensile tests and the same load and boundary conditions as in the scale-down model structural tests. Through the FEA, the structural weak parts on the submersible mooring pulley were reviewed. The structural model tests were conducted considering the main load conditions of submersible mooring pulley, and the FEA and test results were compared for the locations that exceeded the maximum tensile stress of the material. The results of the FEA and structural model tests indicated that the connection structure of the body and the wheel was weak in operating conditions and that of the body and the chain stopper was weak in mooring conditions. The results of this study enabled to experimentally verify the structural safety of the initial design of submersible mooring pulley. The study results can be usefully used to improve the structural strength of submersible mooring pulley in a detailed design stage.