Applicability analysis of truncated mooring system based on static and damping equivalence

Physical model tests of floating facilities in deep and ultra-deep water with full-depth mooring system present obstacles because no wave basin is sufficiently large to perform model testing in reasonable scale. The truncated mooring system needs to be designed to reproduce the statics and mooring-induced damping exerted by the full-depth mooring system. Numerical simulation is developed in this paper to analyse the applicability of an innovative approach which designs truncated mooring system based on static and damping equivalence. Considering the catenary, semi-taut and taut mooring systems used for a semi-submersible platform of 1500 m water depths, equivalent truncated mooring systems are designed by using the innovative approach, respectively. The motion responses of the platform with full-depth and truncated mooring systems are calculated. The applicability of this innovative approach for deepwater model test is discussed.