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The development of offshore wind technology has become a feasible solution to meet the increasing demands for clean and renewable energy. The United States has a total of 4250GW offshore wind energy potential; however, 65% of it is in deep water zones (Lopez et al., 2022) where wind turbines with fixed foundations typically are economically and technically unfeasible. In those situations, floating turbines supported by subsea anchors are a more competitive solution. Based on previous studies, ring anchors can be more material-efficient than piles and caissons because they require less material. Ring anchors also perform better than drag anchors due to their greater embedment depth. To further understand the behavior of ring anchors in saturated sand, a series of centrifuge load tests were performed at the University of California Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) at an acceleration of 70g. This test series investigated the effect of the anchor embedment depth and loading angle on the monotonic loading behavior. The ring anchor models were embedded in dense saturated sand, and then connected to an actuator using taut steel wire ropes. Sensors were used to measure the line tension, displacement, and inclination. The results indicate that the ring anchors mobilize greater capacities as their embedment depth is increased and when they are loaded at angles close to the horizontal direction, while vertical loading leads to the smallest capacity. The anchor displacement during the tests deviated slightly from the loading direction, showing a horizontal deviation at the earlier stages of the tests and a vertical one after the peak load. Furthermore, soil disturbance induced by the anchor installation was found to have a strong effect on the vertical capacity of the ring anchors. Overall, this study provides valuable information regarding the monotonic loading behavior of ring anchors which can aid in their future field deployment. 

The multiline ring anchor (MRA) was devised as a cost-effective means for securing floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) to the seabed. FOWTs occurring in arrays create the possibility for attaching mooring lines from multiple units to a single anchor. Additionally, the deep embedment of the MRA into relatively strong soil permits high load capacity to be achievable with a small and lighter anchor, thereby reducing anchor material, transport, and installation costs. However, since the MRA is shorter than a conventional caisson, features such as wing plates and keying flaps are needed to achieve parity in load capacity with a caisson having a comparable diameter. Preliminary studies show that attaching wing plates to MRA in soft clay is highly effective in enhancing its horizontal load capacity, but only marginally effective in improving vertical load capacity. This motivated the current study investigating the use of keying flaps to further enhance vertical load capacity. Two-dimensional finite element analyses were conducted to understand how keying flaps impact the failure mechanism of the stiffeners and provide reliable evaluations of the uplift resistance of the MRA. The results show that the thickness of the stiffener, flap length, and flap angle can affect the failure mechanism and bearing factors. For the optimal design of the stiffener, a comparative study was carried out to compare the effects of keying flaps and thickness of the stiffener. The studies show that introducing keying flaps can have comparable load capacity with thicker stiffeners and that it can be an economical solution for achieving high vertical load capacity while containing material and fabrication costs. 

A multiline ring anchor (MRA) system has been developed as a cost-effective alternative for securing arrays of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) to the seabed. Multiline attachments can improve the economically competitiveness of FOWTs by reducing the capital cost of the support system for the floating structures. FOWTs can be subjected to severe wind and wave conditions resulting in extreme loads to the anchor system. Thus, the reliable design of the anchor system requires proper determination of the extreme mooring line loads acting on the anchor needed to secure FOWTs to the seabed. Previous studies showed the MRA in soft clay has clear advantages over existing anchors under the extreme horizontal loading conditions imposed by catenary moorings; however, its performance relative to conventional anchors under extreme vertical loading imposed by taut mooring systems requires further investigation. This study presents predictions of extreme loads on floating structures secured by taut mooring systems and evaluates the potential for developing an economical anchor for resisting these extreme loads. 

Suction caissons have emerged as a viable solution for the foundations of offshore wind turbines, which are gaining momentum worldwide as an alternate energy source. When used in a multi-bucket jacket system, the system capacity is often governed by the uplift capacity of the windward bucket foundation. Seabed conditions at offshore windfarm sites often comprise dense sand where the soil response may be drained, partially drained or undrained depending on the loading regime, the foundation dimensions and the soil conditions. Given the large difference in uplift capacity of caissons for these different drainage conditions, predicting the behavior of a suction caisson under a range of drainage conditions becomes a paramount concern. Consequently, this paper presents the findings of a coupled finite element investigation of the monotonic uplift response of the windward caisson of a multi-bucket jacket system in a typical dense silica sand for a range of drainage conditions. The study adopts a Hypoplastic soil constitutive model capable of simulating the stress-strain-strength behavior of dense sand. This choice is justified by conducting a comparative study with other soil models – namely the Mohr Coulomb and bounding surface sand models – to determine the most efficient soil failure model to capture the complex undrained behavior of dense sand. The numerical predictions made in this study are verified by recreating the test conditions adopted in centrifuge tests previously conducted at the University of Western Australia, and demonstrating that the capacity from numerical analysis is consistent with the test results. The Hypoplastic soil constitutive model also provides an efficient method to produce accurate load capacity transition curves from an undrained to a drained soil state. 

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.