Numerical study of a self-submersible single-point mooring gravity cage in combined wave-current flow

Recent years, the single-point mooring cage system has received much more attention because of their eco-friendly characteristics. Numerical simulation is performed to analyze the hydrodynamic behavior of a self-submersible single-point mooring gravity cage in combined wave-current flow. The effect of the frontal rigid frame, the depth of junction point and the slope of anchor line on the submergence performance of the single-point mooring gravity cage system is analyzed, in addition, different reserve buoyancy of net cage structure is considered, and the single-point mooring cage system with multiple net cages is also investigated. The results show that the frontal rigid frame can improve the deformation of net cage significantly in comparison with the counterpart without a frame, and the fish farmer has a high level of flexibility to control the submergence depth of net cage by adjusting the reserve buoyancy of net cage.