INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO MOORING ANALYSIS AND APPROPRIATE SAFETY FACTORS

This paper presents the results of the analyses of a twelve line catenary mooring system using a quasi-static method in the frequency domain, and uncoupled and coupled dynamic methods in the time domain. The latter is found to produce significantly higher tensions. The reasons for these differences are investigated. The minimum line tension safety factors required by design codes do not distinguish between uncoupled and coupled dynamic analyses and some codes use the same factors even for quasi-static analyses. Consequently, the present mooring system passes the acceptance criteria based on quasi-static frequency domain and uncoupled dynamic time domain analyses but does not meet the same criteria when a coupled dynamic time domain analysis is employed. It is understood that because the coupled time domain analysis determines the vessel motions using all forces the accuracy of mooring line tension estimation will be improved over other methods. Hence the application of less conservative safety factors is proposed.