Study on a new mooring system integrating catenary with taut mooring

Analyzed are the merits and demerits of catenary mooring system and taut mooring system, which are commonly used nowadays. As falling somewhere between these two systems, a new mooring system integrating catenary with taut mooring is proposed. In order to expound and prove the advantages of this new system, the motion performance of a semi-submersible platform is simulated by employing full time domain coupled analysis method. A comparison of the result of new mooring system with that of taut mooring system shows that the movement of the platform using the new type mooring system is smaller than that using the taut mooring system, which ensures a better working condition. Furthermore, the new mooring system is also compatible with the characteristics of catenary mooring system, which eliminates the requirement of anti-uplift capacity of the anchors.