Effect of mooring lines on floating breakwaters performance

In the present paper the effect of mooring lines' stiffness and damping on the performance of moored floating breakwaters under the action of normal incident waves is investigated in frequency domain. A three dimensional hydrodynamic model is coupled with a static and dynamic model of the mooring lines, using an iterative procedure. An extensive parametric study is performed. The initial draft of a "base case" floating breakwater is modified through the appropriate modification of the mooring lines' length, affecting directly the mooring lines' stiffness and damping. The existence of "optimum" draft, for the frequencies examined, in terms of transmission coefficient and mooring lines' forces is clearly demonstrated.