• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.59-70
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• 1988

This paper presents the results of motion tests of a moored semi-submersible platform in regular waves. To investigate the effects of mooring system on the motion characteristics, the tests were performed under the various mooring conditions in regular head and beam waves. Two types of mooring system were employed: one is composed of soft springs and the other is of chains. In the case of chains the pretensions were varied to investigate the dynamic effects of mooring forces as well as the motion responses of the semi-submersible. The motion responses and mooring tensions were measured and analyzed by the double amplitude method. The measured motion responses were also compared with the results of calculation from three-dimensional potential theory. Finally, the dynamic behaviors of mooring chains were studied.

• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.209-217
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• 2013

This paper presents a mooring design procedure for a floating offshore wind turbine. Offshore environmental data for Jeju are taken from KHOA (Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration) and used for the environmental conditions in numerical analyses. A semi-submersible-type floating wind system with a 5-MW-class wind turbine studied by the DeepCwind Consortium is applied. Catenary mooring with a studless chain is chosen as the mooring system. Design deliverables such as the nominal sizes of chain and length of the mooring line are decided by considering the long-term prediction of the breaking strength of the mooring lines where a 100-year return period is used. The designed mooring system is verified using a fatigue calculation based on rain-flow cycle counting, an S-N curve, and a Miner's damage summation of rule. The mooring tension process is obtained from time-domain motion analyses using ANSYS/AQWA.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.171-210
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• 2024

This paper focuses on the rigorous and holistic fatigue analysis of mooring chains for a deep draft semi-submersible platform in the challenging environment of the central Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Known for severe hurricanes and strong loop/eddy currents, this region significantly impacts offshore structures and their mooring systems, necessitating robust designs capable of withstanding extreme wind, wave and current conditions. Wave scatter and current bin diagrams are utilized to assess the probabilistic distribution of waves and currents, crucial for calculating mooring chain fatigue. The study evaluates the effects of Vortex Induced Motion (VIM), Out-of-Plane-Bending (OPB), and In-Plane-Bending (IPB) on mooring fatigue, alongside extreme single events such as 100-year hurricanes and loop/eddy currents including ramp-up and ramp-down phases, to ensure resilient mooring design. A detailed case study of a deep draft semi-submersible platform with 16 semi-taut moorings in 2,500 meters of water depth in the central GoM provides insights into the relative contributions of wave scatter diagram, VIMs from current bin diagram, the combined stresses of OPB/IPB/TT and extreme single events. By comparing these factors, the study aims to enhance understanding and optimize mooring system design for safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness in offshore operations within the central GoM. The paper addresses a research gap by proposing a holistic approach that integrates findings from various contributions to advance current practices in mooring design. It presents a comprehensive framework for fatigue analysis and design optimization of mooring systems in the central GoM, emphasizing the critical importance of considering environmental conditions, OPB/IPB moments, and extreme single events to ensure the safety and reliability of mooring systems for offshore platforms.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2022

In this study, the response characteristics of two semi-submersible platforms with an IEA 15 MW reference wind turbine are compared. The nacelle acceleration, platform motion and generator power of FOWT applying a VolturnUS-S platform developed by the University of Maine and PentaSemi platform developed by the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering are compared in operational conditions. Numerical simulations are performed based on the marine environmental conditions of the U.S east coast. In the FOWT to which the PentaSemi platform is applied, the nacelle acceleration and platform pitch angle are rather high, but the results of both platforms satisfied the design criteria at all operating wind speeds. The platform yaw angle of PentaSemi platform to which a yaw control catenary mooring system is applied is significantly smaller than the platform yaw angle of VolturnUS-S. Also, despite the relatively large nacelle acceleration and platform pitch angle, the generator power is higher on the PentaSemi platform. This means that the generator power dominates the control system rather than the nacelle and platform motion.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.139-160
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• 2015

The global performance of the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine in random waves was numerically simulated by using the turbine-floater-mooring fully coupled and time-domain dynamic analysis program FAST-CHARM3D. There have been many papers regarding floating offshore wind turbines but the effects of second-order wave-body interactions on their global performance have rarely been studied. The second-order wave forces are actually small compared to the first-order wave forces, but its effect cannot be ignored when the natural frequencies of a floating system are outside the wave-frequency range. In the case of semi-submersible platform, second-order difference-frequency wave-diffraction forces and moments become important since surge/sway and pitch/roll natural frequencies are lower than those of typical incident waves. The computational effort related to the full second-order diffraction calculation is typically very heavy, so in many cases, the simplified approach called Newman's approximation or first-order-wave-force-only are used. However, it needs to be justified against more complete solutions with full QTF (quadratic transfer function), which is a main subject of the present study. The numerically simulated results for the 5MW OC4 semisubmersible floating wind turbine by FAST-CHARM3D are also extensively compared with the DeepCWind model test results by Technip/NREL/UMaine. The predicted motions and mooring tensions for two white-noise input-wave spectra agree well against the measure values. In this paper, the numerical static-offset and free-decay tests are also conducted to verify the system stiffness, damping, and natural frequencies against the experimental results. They also agree well to verify that the dynamic system modeling is correct to the details. The performance of the simplified approaches instead of using the full QTF are also tested.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2022

Moored floating platforms have great potential in ocean engineering applications because a mooring system is necessary to keep the platform in station, which is directly related to the operational efficiency and safety of the platform. This paper briefly introduces the technical and operational details of an optical sensor for measuring the tension of mooring lines of a moored platform in waves. In order to check the performance of optical sensors, an experiment with a moored floating platform in waves is carried out in the wave tank at Changwon National University. The experiment is performed in regular waves and irregular waves with a semi-submersible and triangle platform. The performance of the optical sensor is confirmed by comparing the results of the tension of the mooring lines by the optical sensor and tension gauges. The maximum tension of the mooring lines is estimated to investigate the mooring dynamics due to the effect of the wave direction and wavelength in the regular waves. The significant value of the tension of mooring lines in various wave directions is estimated in the case of irregular waves. The results show that the optical sensor is effective in measuring the tension of the mooring lines.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.300-310
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• 2014

This paper presents a mooring design procedure of a floating offshore wind turbine. The environment data of south offshore area of Jeju collected from Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration(KHOA) are used for hydrodynamic analyses as environmental conditions. We considered a semi-submersible type floating wind turbine based on Offshore Code Comparison Collaborative Continuation(OC4) DeepCWind platform and National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) 5 MW class wind turbine. Catenary mooring with studless chain is chosen as the mooring system. Important design decisions such as how large the nomial sizes are, how long the mooring lines are, how far the anchor points are located, are demonstrated in detail. Considering ultimate limit state and fatigue limit state based on 100-year return period and 50-year design life, respectively, longterm predictions of breaking strength and fatigue are proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.223-232
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• 2015

The present paper considers the conceptual design of floating wave-offshore wind hybrid power generation system. The worldwide demand for ocean renewable energy is increasing rapidly. Wave and offshore wind energy have been attractive among the various ocean renewable energy sources, and the site to generate electricity from wave and offshore wind accords well together. This means that a hybrid power generation system, which uses wave and offshore wind energy simultaneously has many advantages and several systems have been already developed in Western Europe. A R&D project for a 10 MW class floating wave-offshore wind hybrid power generation system has been also launched in Korea. A semi-submersible platform, which has four vertical columns at each corner of the platform to be connected with horizontal pontoons, was designed for this system considering arrangements of multiple wind turbines and wave energy converters. A mooring system and power cable were also designed based on the metocean data of installation site. In the present paper, those results are presented, and the difficulties and design method in the design of hybrid power generation system are presented.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 2023

In this study, a structural and fatigue strength evaluation of the Fairlead Chain Stopper (FCS) was performed as a part of the development of a disconnectable mooring system to be applied to 10MW floating offshore wind power generation systems. To estimate the load acting on the FCS, a 10 MW semi-submersible floater was designed using the 10 MW wind turbine developed by Technical University of Denmark(DTU). The minimum breaking load (MBL) of the grade R5 and 147mm mooring chain was applied for the FCS strength analysis. The fatigue load was obtained from the coupled analysis results conducted by a collaborating research institute. The structural and fatigue safety of FCS were evaluated in accordance with DNV codes. From the evaluation results, it was confirmed that the FCS satisfies the structural and fatigue safety requirements.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.367-375
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• 2020

This paper presents an integrated analysis about dynamic performance of a Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) OC4 DeepCwind with semi-submersible platform under real sea environment. The emphasis of this paper is to investigate how the wave mean drift force and slow-drift wave excitation load (Quadratic transfer function, namely QTF) influence the platform motions, mooring line tension and tower base bending moments. Second order potential theory is being used for computing linear and nonlinear wave effects, including first order wave force, mean drift force and slow-drift excitation loads. Morison model is utilized to account the viscous effect from fluid. This approach considers floating wind turbine as an integrated coupled system. Two time-domain solvers, SIMA (SIMO/RIFLEX/AERODYN) and FAST are being chosen to analyze the global response of the integrated coupled system under small, moderate and severe sea condition. Results show that second order mean drift force and slow-drift force will drift the floater away along wave propagation direction. At the same time, slow-drift force has larger effect than mean drift force. Also tension of the mooring line at fairlead and tower base loads are increased accordingly in all sea conditions under investigation.