Analysis of hydrodynamic behavior of a submersible net cage and mooring system in waves and current

• A numerical model is developed to analyze the hydrodynamic behavior of submersible net cage and mooring system in waves and current.
• Effects of depth of submerged mooring grid on the tension force on mooring lines and the deformation of net cage are analyzed.
• A comparison of hydrodynamic behavior between the single-cage system, the double-cage system and the four-cage system is made.

Failure of net cage and mooring system is of great concern to the marine aquaculture industry. To avoid the structure failure in storm waves and current during typhoon events, net cage can submerge below the water surface in practice. A submersible net cage and mooring system is analyzed by numerical simulation and physical model test. The numerical model is established based on the lumped mass method and principle of rigid body kinematics. A series of physical model tests are conducted to validate the numerical model of single net cage and grid mooring system in waves and current. Numerical results correspond well with data obtained from physical model test. The results indicate that when net cage is submerged below the water surface, the deformation of net cage in waves can be improved significantly, and the tension force on the anchor line, bridle line and grid line will decrease significantly. However, the tension force on the buoy line in the submergence condition is larger than that in the floating condition. Different relative submergence ratios are also considered in our numerical simulation, and a relative submergence ratio equal to 0.1 is suggested here. The tension reduction ratio (56%) for the four-cage system is larger than that for the single-cage (52%) and double-cage systems (44%).