Damping Characteristics of a New Type of Deep Water Mooring Line with Submerged Buoy

Application of traditional catenary mooring is limited with the development of offshore oil and gas fields towards deep water and ultra-deep water. A new type of catenary mooring line with a submerged buoy is proposed. Optimal design procedure is introduced, and a dynamical model of the mooring line with buoy is established in time domain. The energy dissipation method is applied to calculate mooring-induced damping. Impact of buoy on the mooring line damping is analyzed through a numerical example. Moreover, sensitivity analysis on the parameters of buoy size and location is carried out. The results would provide reference to engineering design of the mooring system of floating platform.