MOTION RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LARGE-SCALE FLOATING BODY MOORED BY ELASTIC MOORING SYSTEM

In this study, the applicability of the elastic mooring system to a large floating body is described. The elastic mooring system is a mooring method that incorporates an elastic body bundled with highly stretchable rubber rope between mooring lines that connect anchors and floating structure. Even if the position of the mooring cable attachment point of the floating structure moves up and down, an appropriate tension always acts on the elastic mooring system, and it can be expected to suppress the oscillation of the floating structure, and prevent the mooring line from breaking due to excessive tension. However, the above-mentioned elastic mooring system with excellent performance is limited to use for mooring small and medium-sized floating structures such as piers and aquaculture facilities, and has never been applied to large floating structures exceeding 500 m. In this study, the motion response characteristics of a large floating structure moored by an elastic mooring system were grasped, and the results were compared with those of a catenary mooring widely used as a mooring device for a floating structure. As a result, even if the elastic mooring line was one-fifth the length of the catenary mooring, the response was more stable than that of the catenary mooring. And, even under the maximum external force condition of the year, the tension generated in the mooring rope was less than 40% of the breaking load, the applicability of the elastic mooring system to the large floating structure was confirmed.