International Conference on Computer Information Systems and Industrial Applications (CISIA 2015)

Dynamic Analysis of the Mooring System for a

Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Spar Platform
D. P. Zhang, K. Q. Zhu, B. Jing, R. Z. Yang, Z. C. Tang
Faculty of Maritime and Transportation
Ningbo University
Zhejiang Ningbo, China

Abstract--Based on the 5 MV wind turbine of a certain B. Theory of the Motion of the Wind Turbine Blades
renewable energy institute in America, the model of a floating
offshore wind turbine spar platform mooring system has been The wind turbine blades are subjected to lift force FWL ,
established by Orcaflex. By calculating the load on the wind
turbine, the hydrodynamic analysis of the wind turbine drag force FWD and a central moment M . All of these only
mooring system was researched and the mooring tension of the depend on the incident angle α . Therefore, Orcaflex used the
CWD (α)
lift coefficient CWL (α ) , the drag coefficient
mooring system was analyzed in different load conditions. With
the change of different fairlead position and different layouts of and the
the fairleads, the optimization design of the mooring system C (α )
moment coefficient M .
has been given.
1
Keywords-wind turbine; spar platform; hydrodynamic FWL = C (α ) ⋅ ρ a ⋅ A ⋅ V 2 (2)
analysis; mooring tension 2 WL
1
FW D = C (α ) ⋅ ρ a ⋅ A ⋅ V 2 (3)
I INTRODUCTION 2 WD
1
A satisfying mooring system for the offshore wind M = C (α ) ⋅ ρ a ⋅ A ⋅ V 2
⋅d (4)
turbines is very complex. The almost constant wind, current 2 M
and wave drift force would cause the natural position of the A is the blade area for the vertical wind direction , V is
system to move and produce the impact load at the the wind speed of the blade center, d is the wind blade width,
equilibrium position which would make the mooring chain
ρ a refers to the density of the air, here taken as 1.3kg/m3.
appear tension-relaxation alternating motion. It would cause
the mutation of the cable effective tension.
C. The Load Calculation of the Tower and the Selection of
At present, the floating offshore wind turbine spar is only the Wave Theory
applied to the shallow water depth of 30m.[1-2] In this paper, The tower can be viewed as a slender rod. In Orcaflex, it
based on the time domain coupled dynamic analysis method, is calculated by the Morison formula. The acceleration of air
the applicable water depth has reached up to 70m. in the calculation of wind load is small, so the inertia force
term can be ignored.
II MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
A. The Description of the Wind Speed P(t ) = 0.5ρ a CD v 2 (t ) (5)
The change of the mean wind speed along the height P (t ) is the pressure variation with time ,also is the wind
generally conforms to the exponential law or logarithm law.
Marine structures always uses American Petroleum Institute
ρ
load on per unit length; a is the density of air; is the drag
(API) spectrum. So Orcaflex modelling process also chose v (t ) is the wind speed.
American Petroleum Institute (API) wind spectrum. coefficient CD ;

z Dean pointed out that in a variety of water depth, the Airy

u( z ) = ( )1/ n u (h) (1) wave theory gives good results.[3] So we used the Airy wave
h theory in the modelling process .
Where z is the height above sea level, h is the reference D. Calculation of Current Load and Wave Load
height above sea level, generally taken to be 10 m, u( z) is The performance of the mooring line is equivalent to a
nonlinear spring. The line is divided into a series of line
the mean wind speed at the height of z, u(h) is the mean
segments which are then modelled by straight massless
wind speed at the reference height. And n is the wind profile model segments with a node at each end. The model
index. segments only model the axial and torsional properties of the
line. The other properties are all lumped to the nodes.[4-8]

© 2015. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 796

That is also the foundation of mathematics model of line
tension in Orcaflex.[9]
The tension FT of the spar platform is vector sum of 6
cables mooring forces of its mooring system. The spar
platform is subjected to current load force FC, the drag force
FD, the inertia force FI, the buoyancy force FB, the gravity
FW, the wind loading force Fwind and moment Mwind FIGURE IV. DIRECTION AND HEADINGS.
which are delivered by the part above water, the water
damping force FK, the water damping moment MK, the The angle α in the local coordinate in Figure 2 is the
incident angle. The range of the incident angle is -90 deg to
tension FT and the total moment MT that all the mooring
+90 deg.
chains give it. We assume the total force is F and the
resultant moment is M. The total external load can be B. The Establishment of the Model in Orcaflex
expressed as; In this model, the main structure of the tower
F = FD + FI + FT + FW + FB + Fwind + FK (6) construction and underwater Spar column have been built by
6D buoy.
M = M wind + M T + M K (7)
TABLE I. THE BASIC PARAMETERS OF THE MAIN STRUCTURE.
III DESIGN OF THE MOORING SYSTEM AND THE MODEL
Mass moments of Centre of
Total
With 6 mooring chains anchoring the spar platform in the Mass(t) Inertia(t.m2) Mass(m)
Length(m)
sea, two different layouts of the fairleads has been designed. Ix(t.m2) Iy(t.m2) Iz(t.m2) x y z
50 100 100 800 121.1 0 0 100

TABLE II. THE BASIC PARAMETERS OF THE TOWER AND SPAR.

Cylinder Cumulative
ID(m) OD(m) Length(m)
segment Length(m)
Tower 2.75 2.78 80 80
Transition
FIGURE I. THE SCHEMATIC OF DIFFERENT LAYOUTS OF THE 3.45 3.5 1 81
section 1
FAIRLEADS.
Transition
4 4.5 1 82
section 2
A. The Instruction of the Model Coordinate System Spar 6 7 30 112
Takes W as the origin point of the local coordinate Bottom
0 6 0.1 112.1
system W-xyz, in which W represents the center of the wind baffle
turbine blades. To determine the coordinate axis G-XYZ, a This main sea boundary condition for the system is as the
global coordinate system has been made, in which G following: the wave height ,H=2m; the wave period, T=15s;
represents the starting point of the global coordinate system, the wave direction and current direction are both taken as 90
GX, GY, GZ, respectively represent X axis Y axis and Z axis. deg, the current speed is taken as 3m/s in a certain sea state,
The directions of wind, wave and current are relative to the the water depth is 70m. The inner diameter of each line is 0m,
global coordinate system of the GX axis and GY axis, just as the outer diameter is 0.35m, the bending stiffness of them,
shown in Figure 2- Figure 4. EI=0; the axial stiffness of them, EA=5200KN; the line
density is 0.15t/m, the Poisson's ratio υ is 0.5, the length of
each line is 60m. Completed in Orcaflex, the two models of
different mooring systems have been shown in Figure 5.

FIGURE II. LOCAL COORDINATE SYSTEM.

FIGURE V. THE MODELS OF TWO DIFFERENT MOORING

SYSTEMS.
FIGURE III. GLOBAL COORDINATE SYSTEM.

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 IV RESULTS than the others, which indicates the mooring tension of line 5
According to the normal working conditions, wind and line 6 are much larger than the others in most periods.
direction is at 90 deg; when studying on the effect of With observation in Figure 7, the largest roll angle Spar
different mooring form, the wind speed is taken as the platform is 6.42 deg, The maximum heave amplitude is less
working wind speed 15m/s. than 1m. Compared with the grouping layout, the uniform
layout is safer.
A. The Dynamic Response of Grouping Layout
TABLE IV. THE MOORING TENSION OF EACH CHAIN.
Table 3 shows the maximum mooring tension of each
mooring chain from large to small order: 6, 5, 3, 2, 4, 1. The Maximum(KN) Minimum t(KN) Mean (KN)
mooring tension of line 1 and 4,line 2 and 3, line 5 and 6 line1 254.608 51.2 144.12
have respectively mutually symmetrical distribution, and the line2 1320.22 45.87 379.729
mooring tension of line 5 and line 6 is far larger than that of line3 1719.65 95.686 384.124
line4 295.981 65.616 146.677
other chain line. The reason for this phenomenon is that the
line5 1498.858 63.849 1043.374
mooring arrangement of line 1 and line 4, line 2 and line 3 , line6 1343.468 28.687 934.849
line 5 and line 6 are respectively mutually symmetrical; and
line 5, 6 are in windward and upstream head sea direction, in
order to prevent the wind turbine shift to the leeward
direction, line 5,6 are under great mooring tension, that leads
to asymmetric distribution of asymmetric mooring chain
lines. Figure 6 illustrates, in the mooring system, the largest
roll angle of the Spar platform is 9.27 deg, not more than the
normal work angle (15 deg); in the mooring system, the
maximum heave amplitude is less than 1.4m, which can
satisfy the actual working requirement.

TABLE III. THE MOORING TENSION OF EACH CHAIN.

Maximum(KN) Minimum t(KN) Mean(KN)

line1 720.641 89.813 308.525 FIGURE VII. DYNAMIC RESULTS OF THE SPAR PLATFORM.
line2 1092.323 38.842 257.201
line3 1191.327 89.093 264.76 V CONCLUSIONS
line4 857.417 105.911 370.560 1) Under the same external load conditions, overall, the
line5 1446.966 42.054 911.873 mooring tension of each mooring chain line in uniform
line6 1457.586 128.248 1381.45 layout is much larger than in grouping layout.
2) Under the same external load conditions, the uniform
layout is better in the above two different layouts of the
fairleads of the mooring system. And after moving the
fairlead position properly, all the mooring chains increase the
constraints of roll and heave of the wind turbine spar
platform, while the grouping layout has fewer constraints on
the spar platform.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for this work was provided by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11272160),
the Science Program of Ningbo City (Grant No. szxl1066),
and the Scientific Research Foundation of Ningbo University
(Grant No. xkl1339, XYL12014).
FIGURE VI. DYNAMIC RESULTS OF THE SPARPLATFORM.
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2008. ORCAFLEX Help File and User Manual, available from
www.oricina.com.

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