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Title: Installability of a Multiline Ring Anchor System in a Seabed under Severe Environmental Conditions
The trend of offshore wind energy in deeper water that is expected to shift from fixed to floating platforms requires a cost-effective anchor solution for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs). Multiline ring anchor (MRA) has been developed as a cost-effective solution for FOWTs due to its capability of anchoring multiple mooring lines, its high efficiency, and its availability to a wide range of soils and loading conditions. While previous preliminary studies on the anchor performance provide useful insights on how the potential advantages of the MRA can improve load capacity, these studies are limited to focusing on optimizing the anchor design in certain soil and loading conditions. By contrast, the MRA will be installed in seabeds under more complex conditions that depend on geological location, water depth of at-place, and environmental conditions, of which wind, current, and wave are major components. These may result in additional substantial extra capital costs, delays in the projects, and safety issues, when the complex conditions are not properly considered. Specifically, the installation time and expenses of the offshore anchor are very susceptible to anchor types, installation methods, and environmental conditions. For this reason, this paper compares two existing offshore anchor installation methods and different anchor types on the basis of their performance under the same severe environmental condition. In evaluating the installability of the MRA, this paper conducts a comparative scenario study. The results show that the anchor installations and anchor handling vessel (AHV) operations are sensitive to weather conditions and AHV sizes. In view of total weather standby, the results show that anchor types or installation methods have little effect on it due to their relatively shorter duration than other work sequences. However, the MRA can benefit in substantially reducing transport time and costs due to its compact size. The MRA can be more efficient and cost-effective than other alternatives under complex and severe weather conditions.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1936901
NSF-PAR ID:
10313327
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
IEEE Oceans 2021
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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