Marine Structures 9 (1996) 545-575

ELSEVIER

0951-8339(95)0001

1996 Elsevier Science Limited

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0951-8339/96/$15.00
1-9

Hydrodynamic Design of Moored Floating Platforms

Oguz Yilmaz & Atilla Incecik
Uniw~rsityof Glasgow, Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering,
Hydrodynamics Laboratory, Acre Road, Glasgow, UK
(Received 8 May 1994; revised 23 October 1994;
accepted 1 December 1994)

ABSTRACT
Single point moored floating production platforms provide an economically
viable option for deep water marginal field oil and gas production. In the
design of such systems, non-linear time domain analysis tools are required
to predict the wave and low frequency motions and the mooring forces due
to non-collinear wave, wind and current load actions. The authors of this
paper have developed and validated with experimental measurements nonlinear analysis tools to predict the dynamic motion response and mooring
forces of a C A L M system due to non-collinear environmental forces. In the
first part of the paper a brief summary of the non-linear analysis procedure
developed by the authors is given, together with some results obtained from
predictions and experimental measurements. In the second part of the paper
the results of parametric studies investigating the effects of variations in
wave, wind and current magnitude and direction, wave and wind spectral
shapes, the number of mooring lines, hawser length and stiffness, buoy size
and' thruster capacity on the steady and slowly varying oscillations of the
C A L M system and on mooring and hawser forces will be illustrated.
Key words." single-point moored system, time domain simulation, slowly
varying oscillations, dynamic wind and current forces, parametric study of
motion responses and hawser tension of CALM system, mooring forces.

1 INTRODUCTION
A large, number of Single Point Mooring (SPM) systems have been installed
in various parts o f the world over the past 30 years. As North Sea oil
545

546

o. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

production moves towards a greater dependence on smaller reservoirs, not

only in comparatively shallow water on the continental shelf, but also in
deeper water off it, there will be a correspondingly greater role for floating
production facilities. An example of such a facility is a large tanker moored
to a single point. A single point moored tanker weathervanes according to
the prevailing weather conditions, thus staying on location with a minimum
of mooring loads. Single point mooring systems have been installed in
various parts of the world and, depending on the weather conditions, they
vary from chain/turret systems to rigid-articulated systems and hybrid-type
structures. Economic viability is one reason for this tendency towards SPM
systems as they have become alternatives to fkxed platforms and subsea
pipelines for transportation of oil and gas which becomes an important part
of the oil-field development as offshore production activities move into
deeper waters. Another noticeable distinction of such systems is that they
can endure severe sea and weather conditions. As a result they experience
numerous combinations of wave, wind and current. Therefore, dynamic
analysis of such systems is essential to ensure satisfactory overall performance of these systems.
In this paper the results of a series of parametric studies are presented to
illustrate the effects of environmental and geometrical characteristics on the
dynamic response and mooring forces of the tanker-buoy system. The
parametric studies were carried out considering the tanker-buoy system
described in Fig. 1. During the parametric studies the elasticity of the
mooring lines and the hawser line, the buoy's geometry, the sea state, the
wind spectrum, the number of mooring lines of the buoy, the hawser length
and the thruster capacity were varied to study the effect of variations on
dynamic response and mooring forces of the system. Numerical aspects of
the program, such as simulation time and integration step, are discussed.

L.J~

ion

Buoy

80m

v~

Tanker

Hawser

Fig. 1. Coupled tanker-buoy system.

7"50

Hydrodynamicdesignof mooredfloating platforms

547

2 B A C K G R O U N D TO T H E P R E D I C T I O N M E T H O D S U S E D IN
THE STUDY
Environmental forces acting on the system consist of slowly varying wave
forces, dynamic wind forces and current and ideal fluid forces. Slowly
varying wave forces are calculated using the mean drift forces in regular
waves and applying an exponential distribution of the wave force record
in irregular waves (Nienhuisl). Mean drift forces were obtained using a 3dimensional program written by Chan. 2
2.1 Slc)wly varying and mean wave drift forces in irregular waves

In irregular seas, drift forces are time dependent. These low frequency
drift forces are small in magnitude but may cause large, low frequency
oscillations of the single point moored vessel if the vessel's natural
frequency is excited.
In irregular waves, the wave elevation on a point is written as

N
~(t) ---- E

~i COS((-Di t -~- 8i)

(1)

i=l
The drift force is related to the square of the wave amplitude and the
square of the wave envelope is

N N 1
~2(t) = Z Z 2 ~i~jcs(~it -[- 8i) cos(Oyt -]- 8))
i=1 j=l

(2)

and the low frequency second order wave drift force is written as follows

N
F (2) (t) = Z

Z ~i~jeijeos{(o~i- o~j)t + ( 8 i - ej)}

i=1 j=l
N

N 1

+ E Z 2 ~iCjQijsin{(~oi-oj)t + (~'i-- gJ)}

i=1 j=l

(3)

P and Q represent symmetric and asymmetric matrices respectively:

Pmn = P,~, Qmn = -Qnm

(4)

If S~ is the wave spectrum then, according to Pinkster, 3 the second order

force spectrum is

SF(Oj1) ~- 8 f 0

S~((D)S~((Dt-~-(D)[F(2)((.D,(.D-[-(.Dt) do)

LC,

(5)

548

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

where F(2)(co, co + co') = v/P/2j + Q2j and the mean wave drift force is

where F (2/(co, co) is the m e a n wave drift force in regular waves.

A n approximate m e t h o d is suggested by N e w m a n 4 and Pinkster, 3 in
which the low frequency forces are derived from m e a n drift forces in
regular waves. This m e t h o d can be used only when wave diffraction effects
are d o m i n a n t because it does not take account of the forces related to the
second order horizontal pressure gradient. According to this method,

p(corn, co',) ~ p (.comcon

2

'

corncon)
2

(7)

Q (corn, co,,) ,~ 0
A spectral form of this formula has been devised by Pinkster,

Sr(co')=8fo

(o')

where F (2) co + -~-

t ]2

S~(co)S~(co'+co)IF(2)(co+2)

de)

(8)

is mean wave drift force in regular waves.

A time history of slowly varying wave forces in irregular waves could

be obtained by using the sum of sines approach with a r a n d o m phase
distribution but this approach leads to a Gaussian distribution of the
slowly varying forces. Pinkster 5 argues that an exponential distribution
of slowly varying forces is more realistic and he devised a m e t h o d to
generate an exponentially distributed force record. 1'6 According to this
method,
F(x2) (0,, t) = - ~,(2)
-xA (o,) (A + 1) + ~,(2) (o,)

F(y2)(O,,t)= -F(](O,)(A + 1 ) + _F(2)(0,1

F~2) (0,, t) = _p(2)_oA(O,)A sign (rnd(b) - 0.5) +

(9t
~,~2) (0,)

where A = ln[rnd(a)]
rnd(a), rnd(b) = uniformly distributed n u m b e r between 0 and 1
A = ln[rnd(a)] has an exponential distribution with average - 1 and
standard deviation 1. The inclusion of rnd(b) in the yaw m o m e n t assures
that F~2) (Or, t) has a symmetrical distribution, which is coupled to F (2) (Or)
and F(2)y (Or) in amplitude but not in phase.

Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

549

(2) ~
(2)
F ~ (~r),Fy A (0,) are determined using the derived spectral density
S~)(0). The variance of ~.(2)
axA (0,) is given by

(o,)): = E[(F 2) (8,)) 2] - e2[f

(8,)] = ~,.LxA (0r)) 2

(10)

A similar expression can be derived for ~(2)

. yA (8,). Taking a sampling
frequency of every Vt, the maximum frequency in the wave drift force is
rc/Vt. Applying a random white noise process and assuming that S F,
(2) is
frequency independent during the Vt variance can be written as 7
tp(2)
(aFt2)(0,))2 = Se~2)(o,o,)n/Vt = ,-xa (8,)) 2
(b-,(2)
(11)
(O'Fy(2)(0,))2 = SF(y2)(O,O,)r~/vt= ," yA (0r)) 2
(0"V~2)(0,))2 = SF~2)(o,0,)~/vt = 2(F~2) (8,)) 2
2.2 Dyaamic wind forces

In simulating the dynamic wind forces, use was made of the different wind
spectra and wind velocity time history was created applying a sum of sines
approach with a random phase distribution (OortmerssenS).
Calculation of wind forces is a difficult task. Most of the time experimental data and/or empirical formulas have to be used. Wind is usually
treated as a time invariant environmental effect. But fluctuations of the
wind velocity acting on the superstructures may have a large effect on the
response of the offshore structures. Wind velocity is expressed by the
following formula in which wind shear is characterised by a power law
expression,9
Vt(z~) -- o~ (~0) fl
(12)
-Vlh(10)
where Vt(z) is wind speed at z at an averaged t seconds
Vlh00) is wind speed at 10m at an averaged 1 hour
is the gust factor (=l)
fl is the power law exponent (=0.16 suggested by Davenport. 10)

Drag force due to wind loading is expressed by the following formula;

1

Fw(t) : ~ PaCDApV2(t)

(13)

where p~, is air density (=O.O012t/m3), CD is drag coefficien~t.

Ap is projection area, V(t) is time dependent wind velocity.
By writing V(t) = V + v(t), mean and dynamic wind forces are obtained
as follows,

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

550

1
FMw(t) = -~ PafDAp'-V 2

(14)

F Dw (t) = PaCDAp-Vv(t)

(15)

Fluctuations in wind velocity could be modelled by a spectrum. Three

of the most commonly used spectra are as follows:
The Harris Spectrum 11 is described by

SwO)_

4x)?V~o
f(2 -~ J2) 5/6

(16)

where)?= 1200f/-fflo;fis frequency; x is drag coefficient (=0.005).

The Davenport spectral formulation 12 is given by

Sw([)=

4xfV~
f ( 2 +]2)4/3

(17)

Ochi and Shin 13 suggested a spectral formulation based on wind speed

measurements carried out at sea. It has the following formulation
for 0 ~<f, ~< 0.003

583f,
420~ '7
sot,) =

(1 "~J~,'35) 11"5

for 0.003 ~<f, ~< 0.1

(18)

838f,
(1 + j~,'35) 11"5 for f , / > 0.1
where f, is dimensionless frequency

f, = f z/-Vz

(19)

S0c,) is dimensionless spectral density

S(f,) =fS(f)/v2,

(20)

f is frequency in cps; z is height above sea level in metres; Vz is mean

wind speed at height z in m/see; SO0 is spectral density function in mZ/s; v,
is shear velocity in m/s.
Mean wind speed, Vz, and friction velocity, v,, are defined in the
following formulas,

Vz = Vlo + 2-5 v, In (z/lO)

(21)

v, = v/-C~10V10

(22)

Hydrodynamic design o f moored floating platforms

where

5 51

V10 = mean wind speed at 10m height in m/s,

C10 --- surface drag coefficient. 13

Time dependent wind velocity is obtained by the sum o f sines approach

with a r a n d o m phase distribution,
OG

V(t) = V + E

V/2 Sw(og.) Vw cos (o9. t + e.)

(23)

n=O

2.3 Current and ideal fluid forces

As with the wind forces, empirical formulas have to be used in calculating
the current forces. Current and ideal fluid forces were expressed using the
methods o f Wichers 14 and Molin. 15 In this approach current forces and
moments are represented as a combination o f the ideal fluid forces and
'real' forces based on semi-empirical mathematical models including
quasi-steady and dynamic current components. Ideal flow forces are given
by Norbinn 16 as follows,
Fxia = -axxft + ayyVO + ayoO 2
Fyia = - a y y f - axxuO - ayoO

(24)

Foid = --aooO -- (ayy -- axx) uv -- ayo (f + uO)

and the relative velocity components are given as follows

u = ~ - Vc cos (~ - 0)
v = p - Vc sin (a - 0)

(25)

The relative acceleration components are

= J~ - Vc b sin (ct - O)

(26)

= ~ + E t) cos (~ - 0)
If eqns 25 and 26 are substituted into eqn 24, we obtain
A~xid : -axxJC - (ayy - axx) V~ sin (zt - O) 0 + ayyj; 0 q- ayo 0 2
l~yid :

- - a y y y -- (ayy - axx) Vc cos (ct - O) ~) - axx ic 0 - ayo 0

-FOld =

-aoo "0 - (ayy - axx) uv - aoy x O - aoy Y

(27)

According to Wichers, the M u n k m o m e n t in eqn 27 can be replaced by

the steady current m o m e n t components and the equation can be rewritten
to include the viscous forces as follows,

552

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

Fxid = --axx SC+ ayy p O + Fxstat "31-Fxdy n

Fyid = --ayy y -- ay 0 0 -FOld =

-aoo "0-

axx JcO +

Fystat + Fydyn

(28)

aoy Y + Fostat + FOdyn

where
Fxsta t = 0.5

pLs rCxc(~cr) Vc2r

Fystat ~- 0"5 pLs TCy~ (O~cr) V~r

(29)

Fo~t,,t = 0.5 pL 2 TCoc(Ctc,) V2~

F~t,,t is the quasi-steady current force and m o m e n t components according to the relative current concept,
where

C,,c is the resistance coefficient in longitudinal direction

Cy~ is the resistance coefficient in transverse direction
Coc is the resistance coefficient in yaw direction

Vc~ =

(u 2 + v2) 5

~ = arctan(-v/-u)
Dynamic current force and m o m e n t components are expressed as
follows,

Fxdyn = --(ayy -- axx) Vc sin (ct - O)/~ + Fxd

Fyayn = -(ayy - axx) Vc cos (~ - O) 0 + Fyd

(30)

FOdyn = Fod

The viscous part o f the dynamic load contribution represents the effects
of the yaw motion in the relative velocity field and based on the local cross
flow principle. According to Wichers, the viscous part of the dynamic
current load can be approximated as follows,

Fxd = 0.5 (ayy -- axx) Vc sin (~ - 0)/~

fyd = 0.5 p TCyc, (90 )

jZ

[(Vc - Or)tVc -Oll - vclvcl]dl

Foe = 0.5 p T

[Cyc ( ~ (/)) {(v~ - 0/) 2 - u2} _ Cyc ( ~ ) V~2~]1 dl

P

where

Uc ~ --U
Vc = --V

~c~(/) = arctan [ ( v , - Ol)/u~]

(31)

Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

553

Surge, sway and yaw motions of the tanker and surge and sway motions
of the buoy were taken into account in the study. To formulate the motion
equations of the tanker-buoy system in time domain, Cummins' method ]7
was utilised. Cummins' method uses impulse response functions to derive
the fluid reaction forces. In order to solve the differential equations an
algorithm written by Gear ~s is used. The algorithm which is either a form
of the Adams methods or a method for stiff equations has several features
such as the automatic selection of step size and order for the method used.
In order to avoid shock response of the system due to external forces an
exponential ramp function which ensures the gradual increase of the
external force for a certain period at the beginning of the simulation is
used.
Waw~- forces acting on the buoy moored to the sea bottom (independent
of the tanker) were calculated using Morison's equation. Catenary equations were utilised to calculate the restoring forces due to the mooring
lines. 19 Hydrodynamic forces acting on the mooring lines were assumed to
be small and therefore these forces were not incorporated in the motion
equations.
Motion responses of the tanker-buoy system are compared with head
sea experimental measurements which were carried out at the Hydrodynamics Laboratory of the University of Glasgow. Comparisons show
quite good agreement with the experiments (see Figs 2 and 3).

3 P A R A M E T R I C STUDIES A N D DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Two sets of parametric studies were carried out. The first one investigated
the effects of different wave, wind and current force magnitudes and

0.5

E
.u.
I-Z

B
0.4

MEASUREMENTS

FREQUENCY DOMAIN SIMULATION

T I M E DOMAIN SIMULATION

[]

0.3

Ill

"
W

0.2
0.1

W
a
F"
el

0.0
0.4

0 .' 6

0 .' 8

1.0
'

1 .' 2

1 '. 4

1.'6

FREQUENCY (Hz.)

Fig. 2. Surge motion of the buoy co-linear environmental forces.

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

554

.-

0.6-

0.5'

I-.
-r

0.4'

ill
"1-

0.3-

u,I

0.2-

UJ

0.1

I-

0.0

.-I

o,,

0.4

0.6

[]

MEASUREMENTS

FREQUENCY DOMAIN SIMULATION

DOMAIN SIMULATION

0.8
1.0
1.2
FREQUENCY (Hz~

1.4

1.6

Fig. 3. Surge motion of the tanker co-linear environmental forces.

directions on the steady and oscillatory motions and mooring forces of the
tanker-buoy system The second parametric study determined the sensitivity of slowly varying motions and hawser forces to changes in wave and
wind spectra, the number of mooring lines of the buoy, hawser length and
thruster capacity. The first parametric study was carried out in regular
waves with steady wind and current present and the second one in irregular waves with dynamic wind and current present.
In the first set of parametric studies, six groups of simulation studies
were carried out using the non-linear time domain simulation computer
program based on the prediction method described in the previous
sections. At the beginning of each simulation the tanker was placed along
the x axis with a zero yaw angle and the hawser was unstretched. Results
of the parametric study are tabulated by using the steady and oscillatory
motion responses of the buoy and the tanker, which were obtained
through a F.F.T. analysis of the time domain simulations During the first
three groups of studies the effects of directionality of wave, wind and
current force were investigated and the results of these simulations are
given in Tables 1-3. During the remaining three sets of simulations the
effects of variations in wave, wind and current force magnitudes were
investigated and the results of these studies are given in Tables 4-6. The
results given in Table 1 indicate that maximum steady and oscillatory
sway and yaw motions of the tanker occur when wave and current forces
make a 90 angle with the wind forces. Similarly maximum sway motions
of the buoy and maximum hawser tension occur when wave and current
forces make a 90 angle with the wind forces (Fig. 4). The results given in
Table 2 indicate that wind direction does not affect the motions and the
hawser tension significantly (Fig. 5). It could be concluded from Table 3
that mean sway displacement and yaw angle increase as the current
direction changes from 0 to 90 . However, the maximum oscillatory sway

Hydrodynamic design of moored floating platforms

H
0~

6 6 6 6 6 6 6
H
0

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

E
H
0

6
II
666666&

~o"

555

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

556

II

6 6 6 6 6 6 6
~ o o o ~
~

'

II
~

,,,'~
~

II

~d
0

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

6
II

~o

e~
~ H
e~

6&&&&66

II .=

"~
.~ ~

Hydrodynamic design of moored floating platforms

II
=
0

6 6 6 6 6 6 6
II
ID

I=

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

F,

fl
o

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

~
6

II
6

6 6 ~ 6 6 6 ~

II =

557

558

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

6~66

66o6

~d

6666

6
II

e~
666&

$
I1~

Hydrodynamic design of moored floating platforms

II
0

~ooo~
II
.

6666
I~

II
0

6666

6
II

~o

e~

I1~

666&

~.~
"

.-~-~
~...._

559

O. Yilmaz, A. lncecik

560

-~

6 o 6 6

o ~

II
o

o o o o
II
0 0 0 ~

o o o o

E
II
c,;
0

6~
II

II

~ ' ~0

Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

561

20000-

I Cunent
15000-

[]

MAXTENSION

MEANTENSIONI

Wind

Wave

/ ~
/

5000

25

50
75
Wave HeadingIDeg)

ioo

Fig. 4. Effectof wave direction.

[]

~50001

MAXIMUMTENSION

MEANTENSION

~ 4 ~ ~Current

lOOGO

"-='Wave
5ooo
W ir~d
01

25

50

75

I
1oo

WindHeading(Deg)

Fig. 5. Effectof wind direction.

motion of the buoy occurs when wave force direction makes a 0 and wind
and current directions make a 45 angle with the horizontal axis. Maximum steady and oscillatory surge motions of the buoy and ship occur
when wave, wind and current forces act co-linearly. The maximum hawser
tension stays relatively low, below 10 000 kN (Fig. 6). Tables 4 and 5 show
that the mean mooring line forces are generally not very sensitive to the
changes in current and wind loading since the dominant load on the
system is due to wave induced oscillatory and steady forces (Figs 7 and 8).
Table 6 shows that there is no linear relationship between the wave height
and the motion response or the mooring force values of the CALM system

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

562
10000"

I"1

MAXIMUM TENSION

MEAN TENSION

7500 -

Wind

Wave

5000

90*

2500 2

Current
0

:5

+o

7;

|
100

Current Heading i Deg)

Fig.6. Effectof currentdirection.

(Fig. 9). This indicates that such systems must bc analysed in thc time
domain using nonlincar analysis tools.
A sccond set of parametric studies was carried out to dctcrrninc thc
scnsitivityof slowly varying motions and hawser forccs to changes in thc
cnvironmcnt, thc number of mooring lines of the buoy, hawser length and
thruster capacity for the C A L M systcm illustratedin Fig. I. In the simulations thc tanker was givcn an initial7-5 yaw anglc with rcspcct to thc
current anglc, and thc b o w hawscr was unstrctched and parallcl to the
current. During these simulations firstorder wave forccs wcrc neglected.

10000-

90 =

7500-

5~-

t'l

MAXIMUM TENSION

MEAN TENSION

Wir~l 4+5
Current
~0
wav e

o
25oo-

0;

,i~

Current Velocity (mlsec)

Fig. 7. Effect o f current velocity.

5;

563

Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

10000-

7500-

Wind'I/cSu*rren t
0

M A X I M U M TENSION

<

Wave

2500-

,'o.

"o

3'o

4~

5'o

Wind Velocity. (m/sec)

Fig. 8. Effect of wind velocity.

o
o

20000-

MEAN TENSION

15000"

90*
W ind lh

MAXIMUM TENSION

d45,

10000-

C urrent
<
5000"

Wave
I

1'o

l'~

Wave Height (m)

Fig. 9. Effect of wave height.

During the simulations of the tanker-buoy system, the following parameters were varied:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Sea state; Pierson Moskowitz spectrum with different wind speeds.

Wind spectrum formulation; Ochi-Shin, Davenport and Harris.
Number of mooring legs of the buoy; 8 and 4 legs.
Hawser length: 80 m and 40 m.
Thruster capacity (250, 500 and 750 kN).
Displaced volume of the buoy (785 and 3534 m3).

564

o. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

Table 7 shows the simulations for different sea states with the PiersonMoskowitz spectrum and with mean wind speeds of 10.3, 20-6 and
25.75 m/s respectively. It can be concluded from the comparison of simulations that an increase in wind speed results in an increase in mean
displacements of the system and the mean tension of the hawser. The same
trend can also be observed for oscillatory yaw motion of the tanker and
sway motion of the buoy. Simulation 1, which is the lowest sea state
chosen, gives the biggest motion response values for surge motion of the
buoy and sway motion of the tanker. The reason for this is that higher sea
states yield increase in the mean tension forces on the mooring .system and
this in turn increases the stiffness of the system and therefore motion
response values become smaller. Frequencies at which the buoy and the
tanker oscillate in simulation 1, as found through a spectral analysis, are
0-013, 0-025, 0-038 and 0-05rad/s. Among these frequencies 0.013 is the
dominant frequency for all motions except for the surge motion of the
buoy and the tanker whose dominant frequency is 0.025 rad/s. The dominant frequency for hawser tension oscillations is also 0-025 rad/s. The
dominant frequencies change slightly with increasing wind speed: 0-014
and 0.029 rad/s for simulation 2 and 0.016 and 0-031 rad/s for simulation 3.
Simulations with the Ochi-Shin, Davenport and Harris wind spectra are
compared in Table 8. The mean wind speed during the simulations was 22 m/
s. The results obtained using these three spectra are very similar to each other.
The effect of mooring legs on the motion response and hawser tension
values is shown at Table 9. As the number of mooringlegs is reduced from
8 to 4, the dominant (natural) frequencies of the ~ s t e m shift towards
lower frequencies taking the values 0-014, 0.028, 0-041 and 0.057 rad/s
compared with the frequencies of 0.015, 0.029, 0-044 and 0.059 rad/s of the
8 legged system. There is also an increase of 40-145% in the mean and
oscillatory motion response values of the tanker and the buoy. This
increase in the motions increases the hawser tension by 25%. This is
because with fewer mooring legs, the system becomes less stiff, the bow
hawser stays slack for a longer time and the sudden acceleration of the
buoy and/or the tanker creates larger tensions in the hawser.
A change in hawser length not only changes the motion response values
but also the natural frequencies of the system. As is seen from Figs 10 and
11 and Table 10 as the hawser length reduces from 80m to 40m,
0.019 rad/s becomes the dominant frequency for sway and yaw motions of
the tanker and sway motion of the buoy, 0.038 rad/s for the surge motion
of the buoy and the tanker and the hawser tension. Another conclusion
which could be drawn from the simulation is that the motions of the
tanker and the buoy are more stable and hawser loads decrease by 6% as
the hawser length is reduced (Fig. 11).

Hydrodynamic designof mooredfloating platforms

565

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Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

571

Slackening of the hawser which is the reason for peak loads is avoided
by the use of thrusters. Tanker and buoy motions also become more
stable. But with the use of thrusters the hawser remains stretched with a
high mean tension during the simulation, which may not be desirable and
the use,, of thrusters could be expensive. Results are tabulated in Table 11.
An :increase in displaced volume of the buoy results in more stable
motions of tanker and buoy (Table 12). This effect is quite similar to the
effect of thrusters.

4 N U M E R I C A L ASPECTS
In order to obtain enough cycles of motion for analysis and to avoid the
statistical variance of the results, 2 simulation time was chosen to be
sufficiently long, 7000 seconds. The time step used for the integration of
the differential equations was 0-05 seconds, the maximum time step which
could be used by the algorithm is for stable solutions was 0-2 seconds and
the minimum time step was 1.E-07 seconds. Tolerance was chosen to be
10E-03. For higher tolerances the algorithm requires much smaller time
steps.

5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The results of time domain simulations indicate that maximum
steady and oscillatory sway and yaw motions of the Ship and
maximum hawser tension occur when wave and current forces make
a 90 angle with the wind forces.
2. Maximum mooring line forces and displacements may not always
occur as the sea states increase. In fact simulations carried out using
the configuration defined in the study show that the lowest sea state
with a wind speed of 10.3 m/s yields the highest oscillatory surge
motion of the buoy and oscillatory sway motion of the tanker.
3. The use of different wind spectra during the simulations did not
make any significant change to the motions of the system.
4. A decrease in number of mooring legs from 8 to 4 results in an
increase on the motions of the system and hawser tension.
5. An increase in buoy dimensions and the use of thrusters results in
more stable motions of the system.
6. Comparisons of wave frequency motions obtained from time and
frequency domain results with model scale measurements show
good agreement (Figs 2 and 3). However, further model or full scale

O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik

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O. Yilmaz, A. Incecik
measurements are needed to validate the predictions of low
frequency motions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Engineering Materials Advisory Services
Ltd. (EMAS) for allowing them to use some o f the figures and tables
published in their paper in the proceedings of the IOS '93 conference.

REFERENCES
1. Nienhuis, I. U., Simulations of low frequency motions of dynamically positioned offshore structures. The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, 7, 1986.
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thesis, Dept. of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, University of
Glasgow, August 1990.
3. Pinkster, J. A., Low frequency phenomena associated with vessels moored at
sea. Society ofPetr. Engrs. AIME, paper no. SPE4837, 1974.
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waves. In Proc. Symp. Dynamic Marine Vehicles Structures in Waves,
London, 1974, pp. 182-186.
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8. Oortmerssen, I. G. V., The Motions of a Moored Ship in Waves. Publication
No. 510, Netherlands Ship Model Basin, Wageningen, The Netherlands,
1976.
9. Singh, S., Uncertainties in the estimation of fluid loading on offshore structures with special emphasis on wind forces. Trans. of Institute of Marine
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10. Davenport, A. G., Gust loading factors. J. Structural Division, ASCE, 93,
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11. Harris, R. I., The Nature of the Wind, The Modern Design of Wind-Sensitive
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London, 1971, pp. 29-55.
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Hydrodynamic design of mooredfloating platforms

575

Publication No. 797, Netherlands ship Model Basin, Wageningen, The

Netlherlands, 1988.
15. Mo]in, B. & Bureau, G., A simulation model for the dynamic behaviour of
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Gothenburg, 1971.
17. Cummins, W. E., The impulse response function and ship motions. Schiffstec~nik, 9 (1962).
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Communications of the ACM, 14 (1971).
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l-B, 1990.
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5457, Vol. 3, 1987.