WP7 Mooring and anchors

The objective of this work package is to develop solutions to secure that novel floating structures are kept at the location in a safe, sustainable and cost-efficient manner. This will be achieved by developing analyses tools and design methods, facilitating innovation and optimization in the industry, and by developing guidelines and effective monitoring systems to improve the robustness of the mooring and anchor system.

Hans Petter Jostad

Technical Director - NGI
Name
Hans Petter Jostad
Title
Technical Director - NGI
Organization
NGI

The mooring and anchor solutions available today have been developed mainly for floating oil and gas structures. The novel floating structures considered in BLUES will bring new challenges to the mooring and anchor system, driven by the operating requirements of the structures, the load regimes generated by the novel structures themselves, the new environmental conditions for example near shore and in shallow water, and the need for cost optimisation of the structures. To meet these challenges, there is a need to imporve fundamental physical understanding of the mechanism involved and to develop numerical tools for the industry to innovate and optimize both the complete structural system, as well as the individual structural components. The need for improved understanding of the physics is mainly linked to new operating conditions and more complex load regimes. Mooring line erosion around anchors and multi-directional loading applied to shared anchors represent problems yet to be fully understood. Available integrated tools for floating structures are continously improved, yet lack reliable models of anchors. Other, more dedicated numerical tools for analysing anchor installation and failure have the potential to support concept development of anchors, and partly substitute costly physical testing. Resilient infrastructure in the near-shore environment such as floating bridges, will be exposed to the risk of near-shore geohazards such as submarine slides and tsunamis. For these structure, reliable live monitoring of the anchoring system will improve robustness throughout the lifetime. Firm strategies for anchor monitoring and remote evalutation of anchor integrity are currently missing.