Proceedings of the Eleventh (2001) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference Stavanger, Norway, June 17-22, 2001

Copyright 2001 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers ISBN 1-880653-51-6 (Set); ISBN 1-880653-55-9 (Vol. IV); ISSN 1098-6189 (Set)

Dynamic Analysis of Mooring Lines by Using Three Different Methods

Xiaohong Chen and dun Zhang

Texas A&M University College Station, TX, USA

Peter Johnson and Mehernosh Irani

Offshore Technology Research Center College Station, TX, USA

ABSTRACT Springs are often used in the deep-water mooring-line model tests in the wave basin o f the Offshore Technology Research Center. The efficacy of numerical schemes used for simulating mooring lines inserted with springs were examined through the comparison of their respective simulation with measured falrlead tension and trajectory of tracking points of two mooring-line models. It is found that the relatively large elongation induced by the inserted spring can significantly change the dynamics of a mooring llne. Numerical schemes that fail to model the large elongation may hence

result in significant errors in their simulations. Although only limited numerical schemes were examined in this study, the basic findings may have implications to more numerical schemes used by the offshore industry because of similar principles involved them. KEY WORDS: large elongation element, mooring line, spring, deep water

Introduction

The recent development of oil exploration and production in deep water sparks research interests in the development of design and test methods for deep-water mooring-fine systems. This study attempts to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of three numerical schemes for simulating the tension and trajectory of a mooring line when the motion of its fairlead is prescribed. In particular, it is important to find out whether or not they are applicable to mooring lines with inserted springs, which are often used in mooring-line models though not commonly in prototype mooring lines. The use of springs in a mooring-llne model is mainly for two reasons. First, it is difficult to find a cable or rope whose

elasticity modulus and submerged weight can simultaneously match with those of t h e p r o t o t y p e mooring line based on the Froude number scaling. The insertion of springs in a mooring line allows for a significant adjustment of its overall stiffness. Secondly, springs are needed especially in the ease of a truncated mooring-line model, which is a compromise between a large water depth required based on model sealing and a limit water depth in a wave basin. The three numerical schemes are the two different versions of Cable3d, and a commercial software, known as Orcaflex. The reason for choosing them is solely based on the availability. The original numerical scheme of Cable3d (original Cable3d) was developed by Ma & Webster (1994). It employs a giobal-coordinate-based nonlinear Finite Element Method (FEM). T h e principles of the FEM were introduced by Garret (1982) for an inextensible rod, and later extended by Paulling & Webster (1986) and Ma g: Webster (1994) to allow for a small elongation of the rod and the support of the sea bottom. Considering that the springs inserted in a mooring llne may have relatively large elongation, we recently revised and extended the original Cable3d to add large elongation elements in modeling a mooring line and to allow for bottom friction (Chen et al. 2000). The newly modified version is hence named as the modified Cable3d. The modified Cable3d includes two kinds of elements: small elongation elements with bending stiffness which were also used in the original Cable3d and large elongation elements without bending stiffness which are able to model the soft components, such as springs, inserted in a mooring llne. The modified Cable3d is found very robust and efficient because relatively large time step can be adopted in computation without the deterioration of numerical stability. It can be used for static and dynamic analysis of risers, mooring lines, tethers, etc. Orcaflex is a commercial numerical software developed by Oreina (2000). It has been used as a design tool 635

by the offshore industry. It employs a three-dimension (3D) nonlinear finite element method. The mass of each element is lumped at its center. An explicit Euler integration technique is employed for dynamic analysis. Because of its poor numerical stability, the time step required for integration is severely limited, typically around 0.001s (Orcina, 2000). Two special mooring-fine models: a uniform fightweighted chain and a heavy-weighted chain with a spring inserted in the middle, were made and tested in the wave basin of the Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC) at Texas A&M university. The measured fairlead tension and trajectory of tracking points of the two mooring-fine models were used to examine the numerical simulations obtained respectively by these three numerical schemes. Based on the comparison of the simulations and the corresponding measurements, it is found that all three numerical schemes can accurately simulate the dynamics of the uniform chain. However, only the modified Cable3d and Orcafiex axe able to match the measurements of the chain with an inserted spring. The modified Cable3d is ten to hundred times more efficient than Orcaflex, which may become a significant advantage in simulating a mooring-line system consisting of a large number of individual mooring lines.

~)

b~~.ex(el)/
/rls,t)

Figure I: Coordinate System length; r' -- or is h-7, is the inclination of the rod and ~ = -~-,~r the acceleration. In the above derivation, the assumption of the inextensibility condition given below was implicitly invoked, r ' . r ' ---- 1

(2)

In the case o f a n extensible rod, Equation (2) is modified to

Formulation

r'. rt = (1 + e)2

(3)

Since Orcaflex is a commercial software, its formulation is omitted for brevity. Detailed information of Orcaflex can be found in Orcina (2000). Hence, our attention focuses only on the formulation of the original and modified Cable3d. The dynamic equations for a slender rod of non or small extensibility were derived in many previous studies (e.g. Love 1944, Nordgren 1974, Garrett 1982, Paulfing & Webster 1986, and Ma & Webster 1994) and hence are briefly given below for completeness and later comparison with the equations for mooring lines with relatively large extensibility. In a fixed Cartesian coordinate system, the configuration of a slender rod can be described by a vector, r(s, t), which starts from the origin of the coordinates to a point along the rod, where s is the distance along the arc length of the rod, measured from the end of the rod to the point and t denotes time (see Fig.l). When the rod is assumed to be inextensible, the arc length s is independent of the deformation of the rod and time. In the absence of external torque and moment applied on a slender rod, the governing equation for its motion can be expressed as

where e = ~ and E A is the axial stiffness of the rod. When the relative extension, e, is very small, Equation (1) for the motion and the above expression for the Lagrange multiplier A remains valid. However, when e is not small, both need to be modified to account for relatively large extensions. In studying an extensible chain or cable, the bending stiffness and shear stress are negligible and only internal force considered in the equation for the motion is the tension T which is parallel to the local tangent. The equations of motion of a cable in the Cartesian coordinates were derived by Lindahl and SjSberg (1983). They were written in terms of the unstretched length s, measured along the cable from the end point (s = 0) to a material point. Letting ds be a small element of the cable measured in an instantaneous configuration. The conservation of linear momentum leads to, p~ a(Tt)

as

q = 0

(4)

- (Br")" -4- (Ar')' + q = p~

(1)

where q the external force applied on per unit unstretched length, and p the mass per unit unstretched length, t = or is a unit tangential vector along the cable. ~ denotes the corresponding stretched length. Considering the relation between the unstretched and stretched lengths, we have d=(l+e)ds rl ar -- 0 s - - ~ - ~a(r l+)=t(l+e) (5)

where B is the bending stiffness; A = T - Bt~ 2 is a scalar known as the Lagrange multiplier; ~ stands for the curvature of the slender rod; T(s, ~) is the tension; q is the external force per unit length; p is the mass of a slender rod per unit 636

(6)

For significant relative extension in the rod, the Lagrangian multiplier is redefined as,
T - (1 + ----~

(7)

and therefore the equation for the motion of a flexible and extensible rod becomes (~r')' + q : pi~ (8)

Equation (8) has the same form as (1) except for the absence of bending stiffness in (8). In the context of chains or cables used for mooring lines, the external forces consist of gravity force, buoyancy forces, drag forces, inertia forces and addedmass forces. The last three are calculated using the Morison equation. Noticing Equation (7), we have T
= EA : EA-

Table I: Main Particulars of Mooring Lines Heavy Chain Uniform Light with Spring Chain Water Depth(R) 733.3 733.3 Total Mooring Line Length(it) 2243.3 2500 Mass per Unit Length(lbs/it) 560 235.2 Elastic Stiffness (EA)(kips) 6.68 x 108 4.95 x 10 s Inserted spring unstretched length(it) 160 no spring Inserted spring elasticity(lbs/in) 322 no spring Pretension(kips) 1000 350

A
A

1--g

(9)

where
=

A
EA

(10)

The constraint equation expressed in terms of i becomes,

r'. r'(1 -

= 1

(11)

The governing equations are discretized in space using a Galerkin's method. They are solved using a Newton's method for static problems and using a Nemark-~ Scheme in the time domain for dynamic problems.

Table 2: Target Periods end Amplitudes of Motion period(s) stroke (ft) stroke (ft) stroke (ft) (M) (s) (L) 0.75 4s 3 1.5 5s 3 1.5 0.75 6s 3 1.5 0.75 8s 15 7.5 3.75 10s 20 10 5 12s 30 15 7.5 14s 30 15 7.5 30 15 7.5 16s 7.5 15 25s 30 50s 120 60 30 150s 120 60 30

Experiment

Set-up
In the regular oscillation tests, the falrlesd was forced to oscillate at a constant period and amplitude in the xdirection. The target periods of all regular oscillations are summarized in Table 2. At each period, there are three runs with different target strokes. According to their relative magnitudes, they are named as large, medium and small strokes, respectively, and denoted by the capital letters 'L', 'M' and 'S'. In addition to the regular oscillations, the oscillation of fairlead was subjected to two different irregular signals. They respectively correspond to the surge motions of: (a) a seml-submersible experiencing a 100 year return period hurricane in the Gull of Mexico (the spectrum of the signal is denoted as 'YR'), and (b) a semi-submersible in the sea states of a 20-foot significant wave height (the spectrum is denoted 'WN'). These two spectra are plotted in Fig.2. Both low-frequency (representing slow surge motion) and wave-frequency responses of a semi-submersible can be identified in these two spectra. 637

Model tests of a chain of uniform density and stiffness and a chain with an inserted spring were conducted in the 3 D wave basin at the O T R C . The basin is 45.7 m long, 30.5 m wide, and has a uniform water depth of 5.8 m. The model scale is 1:40. The main particulars of a uniform lightweighted chain and a heavy-weighted chain with a spring inserted in the middle are given in prototype scale, as shown in Table.1. The falrlead of the mooring-line model was forced to oscillate horizontally, driven by a servo-controlled hydraulic piston which was anchored to the bridge over the wave basin. The horizontal displacement of the fairlead was recorded based on the position feedback of the hydraulic piston. Horizontal and verticalforces at the fairlead were measured using strain-gauged shear load cellsand the line tension at the fairlead was measured using a strain-gauged ring cell. In-plane horizontal and vertical motions at selected points along the mooring line were recorded by an optical tracking system employing underwater video cameras. All data axe given in prototype scale following the Froude number scaling.

0.0~

0,04

0.06

0.06 0.1 Fmquen~C-#z)

0.12

0.14

0.16

-~o

o ons~m

5o

,00

Figure 2: Spectra of Fairlead Motion

Figure 3: Comparison of Line tension for Uniform Light Chain

160C 150C 140C

Comparisons between Numerical Simulations and Experiment Results

Numerical simulations are made respectively using three different numerical schemes: the original Cable3d (also denoted by small elongation simulation), the modified Cable3d (large elongation simulation) and Orcaliex. In the case of the uniform light chain, comparisons were made only for the static and regular oscillations of large strokes. In the case of the heavy chain with an inserted spring, all comparisons of static, regular and irregular oscillations are presented. In simulating the uniform chain, the results obtained using either original or extended Cable3d are virtually identical,which is expected because the extension of the uniform chain is negligible. Thus these results were simply denoted by 'Cable3d'. In the case of the heavy chain with an inserted spring, the small elongation simulation (obtained using the original Cable3d) and the large elongation simulation (using the modified Cable3d) are found to be quite different and both simulations are given in the related figures. The inputs to all three numerical schemes were the same, that is, the time series of measured fairlead motion. Noticing that the x- axis is parallel to the motion of the piston and the y-axis points upwards, the motion of the mooring line induced by the moving falrlead is hence mainly in the x-y plane. All results are presented in prototype scale.

~130C
~'120C 11(X co 100C

9(X 80C -50

0 50

100

Figure 4: Comparison of Line tension for Heavy Chain with Spring

4.1

Tensions a n d Trajectory of Static tests

In the static tests, the fairlead of a mooring line was moved slowly to a prescribed position in the x-direction. After the motion of the mooring line completely stopped, the line tensions near the faixlead and the trajectory at the point 880 feet from the fairlead of the mooring line were recorded. The measured and computed line tensions as a function of the offset at its fairlcad was plotted in Fig.3 for the uniform light chain and in Fig.4 for the heavy chain with an inserted

spring. Fig.3 shows excellent agreement among the measurements and all numerical results predicted respectively by Cable3d or Orcaflex. The two predicted line tension curves are almost coincident. Fig.4 shows that the static line tensions predicted by the large elongation simulation (the modified Cable3d) or Orcaflex are in excellent agreement with the corresponding measurements, while the results of the small elongation simulation (the original Cable3d) is much steeper than the measurement. The trajectories of a tracking point with respect to a range of static offsets at the fairlead are shown in Fig.5 for the uniform light chain and in Fig.6 for the heavy chain with an inserted spring. Because Orcaflex is not available to the output for the tracking point, no results of Orcaflex are shown in these two figures. It is shown in Fig.5 that both original and modified Cable3d predicted the trajectories of the tracking point very well in the case of a uniform chain. However, Fig.6 shows that the agreement between the large elongation simulation and measurement remains excellent and the agreement between small elongation simulation and measurement is rather poor, which is consistent with the comparison observed in Fig.4.
638

150

P--------I-

(4s)

(,~)

100

A
~;[ :05 (ss) ~"f 110 1 30~00 105 (ea) 1;0'1'5

5O

-50

V -1( -50 0 x(~t) 50 100

150

, 5 Time(s)

..

30~)00 1 1 1()5 ' 1 110 ~ne(s)

Figure 5: Trajectory of Tracking Point for Uniform Light

Chain

Figure 7: Dynamic Line Tension for Uniform Light Chain (Large stroke, 4s, 5s, 6s, 8s) (solid line: measttred; dash line: Cable3d; .-.-.-: Orcaflex)
(10e)

4.2

Oscillations Strokes

of C o n s t a n t

Periods

and

(12s)

In using the Morison equation to compute hydrodynamic forces on a mooring line, accurately determining the drag and added-mass coefficients are crucial to the dynamic simulation of the mooring line. However, at this stage we made no effort in this regard and adopted the drag and added-mass coefficients empirically. The normal drag coefficient of a chain was set to be 3.2, tangential drag coefficient = 0.6, normal added-mass coefficient = 2.8, tangential addedmass = 0.6, which are close to those used by Wichers and Huijsmans (1990). The chain drag and added-mass coefficients are based on the nominal diameter, which is defined as the wire diameter of a shackle. The same coefficients were also used in the numerical simulations of irregular oscillations described later. Although the empirical coefficients are used in our current study, it is important to point out that further studies for determining accurate drag and added-mass coefficients are necessary and should be conducted in the future. The comparisons of time series of line tension in the uni-

100

110

120

130

I:IAA,A,
ntis) TIm~s)

450

(14e) .

(16s)

Figure 8 : Dynamic Line Tension for Uniform Light Chain(Large stroke, 10s, 12s, 14s, 16s) (solid line: measured; dash line: Cable3d; .-.-.-: Orcaflex)

120 o E.v, pedrner~ 100 -- ~(Large ElongaUo,'tSimuta~on) I - - Cab4e3dSmall UonSimulaHon 80 /

411

0
-20

-4O -6O -8O

/ /

50

100

Figure 6: Trajectory of Tracking Point for Heavy Chain with Spring

form light chain are plotted in Fig.7-Fig.9 for various periods of oscillations. The amplitude ratios of the line tension to fairlead motion are plotted in Fig.10 but limited to the large stroke. The amplitude ratio is defined as the average of peak to peak line tension divided by the average peak to peak fairlead motion (stroke) and its unit is kips/ft. In these simulations, the time step was set as 0.158s in using either Cable3d numerical schemes, which is equal to the sampling rate used in our measurements. When using Orcaflex~ the time step is reduced to 0.001s. Hence, the simulation conducted using either Cabled3d is almost 10 times faster than using Orcaflex in the case of the uniform chain. By comparing the time series of the simulations, it is seen that simulations by all three numerical schemes are virtually identical, except that the simulations by either Cable3d are much smoother than those by Orcaflex. In the case of the heavy chain with an inserted spring, the comparisons of the amplitude ratios of the line tension to fairlead motion axe plotted in Fig.ll-Fig.13." These figures

639

4o

--*- ~pedment

35 -~ Orcallex J (25s) ~0 " (50s) .

.-

-* ~

25

sl ~,

.~
250 105 j s , IP-"

v
100 6O0 120 140 (15~) 160 100 150 200

AA/ ':IV Y v,

00~

0.05

0.1

Fm{Hz)

0.15

0.2

0.25

100 200 300 400 500

Figure 10: Dynamic Line Tension per Unit Amplitude for Uniform Light Chain (Large stroke)

Figure 9: Dynamic Line Tension for Uniform Light Chain(Large stroke, 25s, 50s, 150s) (solid line: measured; dash line: Cable3d; .-.-.-: Orcaflex)
i

o~

,~ ss I # j4

~20
demonstrate that the large-elongation simulations by the modified Cable3d and Orcaflex consistently agree with the corresponding measurements in the entire frequency range. The simulations by Orcaflex are almost identical to those by the modified Cable3d. On the other hand, the simulation by the original Cable3d over-predicts the tension in the lowfrequency range (< 0.08 HZ) but under-predicts the tension in the (wave-frequency) range (> 0.1Hz). The time step used in the simulations of either Cable3d remains 0.158 s. In the case of using Orcaflex, the corresponding time step has to be reduced to as small as 6.8e-5 s, consistent with the recommendation given by Orcaflex. Consequently, the modified Cable3d is about one hundred times faster than Orcaflex.
.rs
" "t - * 4..o. ~ _ .of

fs f " s~

f
0.25

0.05

0.1

Fre(Hz)

0.15

0.2

Figure 11: Dynamic Line Tension per Unit Amplitude for Heavy Chain with Spring (Large stroke) sponding measurement. It greatly over-predicts the line tension in the low frequency range (<0.08Hz) and greatly underpredicts the tension in the wave-frequency range (>0.1Hz). These trends are consistent with those observed in the comparisons of the regular oscillations. The total duration for both irregular oscillations are 3 hours. It takes the modified Cable3d about 1 hour to finished each simulation on a 166 mega-Hz PC, while it takes Orcafiex more than 110 hours to finished the same simulation.

4.3

Irregular Oscillations

Using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), the amplitudes of the line tensions and displacements can be expressed as a function of the frequency. The Response Amplitude Operator (RAO), defined as the ratio of mooring-line tension to the displacement at the fairlead, can thus be calculated as a function of the frequency. For brevity, only the results of the heavy chain are presented here. The measured and predicted RAOs are plotted in Fig.14 for the case of the oscillation of a 'WN' spectrum and in Fig.15 for the 'YR' spectrum, respectively. These two figures show that the simulations by the modified Cable3d and Orcaflex remain in excellent agreement with the measurement in all frequencies although both simulations are slightly smaller than the measurement in the wave-frequency range. The simulation by the original Cable3d, nevertheless, is qualitatively different from the corre-

Conclusion

The measurements of forced oscillations of two mooringline models (with or without an inserted spring) were used to examine the efficacy of three different numerical schemes: the original and modified Cable3d and Orcafiex. Based on the comparisons between measurements and the corresponding simulations, the following findings were made, which may have important implications to the design of a mooring-line system, especially for the model test of a moored offshore structure in deep waters.

640

14 5O 45 -'J~" _~Ca~m~rge -0- Cable,~(Sml Elon~Uon , ~ x i a t i o . ) I J 4O - , - Orcllox 12

' ~ m ~
*

'

"
Slmulal~n) Simutation)

Cable3d(I.~rge ~ o ~Ca~eSd(Sm" B e , , ~

~1o
0o~/..-"
I

=
25

j o[
=~,L

:OOo
2 o.';;~%;o

..

~o
10

*J.~ .J~.'"
5 0 0
0.0S 0.1 Fre(Hz) 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.02 0.04 0.06

Fre(Hz)

0.08

0.1

0,12

0.14

Figure 15: RAO of Dynamic Line Tension(yr)

I. W h e n the elongation along the whole mooring line is insignificant, all three numerical schemes render almost identical simulations as long as the input to them are the same. Their results are in satisfactory agreement with the corresponding measurements. 2. In the case of a chain with an inserted spring, the elongation is significantat the location of the spring. The numerical simulations obtained using either the modified Cable3d or Orcaflex remains almost identical and are in satisfactory agreement with the corresponding measurements, while the simulations given by the original Cable3d can not match the measurements qualitatively. The failure of the original Cable3d results from the approximation of neglecting the relative extension made in the dynamic equation even though it is explicitly considered in the length restrain condition. 3. Although both modified Cable3d and Orcaflex render almost identical simulations, the former is more much efficient than the latter. The C P U times used by these two schemes for the same computation are different by a order of ten to hundred times. The huge amount C P U time consumed by Orcaflex results from the use of a tiny time increment is required to maintain the numerical stability. Considering that a mooring-line system used for an offshore floating structure, such as Spar or FPSO, usually consists of tens or more single mooring lines, a fast numerical scheme may be a necessity. In this regard, the newly developed modified Cable3d has a significant advantage over Orcaflex. Acknowledgment This study was supported by the O T R C University. References Chen, XH, Zhang, J, Johnson, P and Ixani, M (2000). "Dynamics Analysis of Mooring Lines with Inserted Springs," submitted to Applied Ocean Res

Figure 12: Dynamic Line Tension per Unit Amplitude for Heavy Chain with Spring (Medium stroke)

5O .-t,45 -*-a4O -~-

Expedmem " " I C a b l ~ ( U ~ r l e Bongalion Simula~o) I ~(Smalt E I ~ S~kdion) Orcaflex

~5 ,!i~o
1( I-o. ..o" 0.05 ~ .@. 0.1 .,." Fre{Hz) 0.15

15O

.:,.,i,"..."
ss~s j

s~

0.2

0.25

Figure 13: Dynamic Line Tension per Unit Amplitude for Heavy Chain with Spring (Small stroke)

12

~,0
't'
/ 2

o
o

oo
l l * ; l l it

. * t , ' ~ ,9~o%~ ~ o *~,

"
oo

at Texas A & M

r-~oo
~
0.02

oo
0%ooo0o0o0

.'No

$
0.04

~
0.06

o
Fr~Hz)
0.08

0o%ooo %o0 8o oo ~
0.1

/
/

0.12

0.14

Figure 14: R A O

of Dynamic Line Tension(WN)

Garrett, DL (1982). "Dynamic analysis of slender rods,"

641

J. of Energy Resources Technology, Trans. of ASME, Vol.104, pp302-307.

Lindahl, L and Sj~3berg, A (1983). "Dynamic analysis of Mooring Cables," the Second International Symposium on Ocean Engineering and Ship Handling, pp281-319. Love, AEH (1944). "A Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity," 4th Edition, Dover Publications, New York. Ma, W and Webster, W C (1994). "An Analytical Approach to Cable Dynamics: Theory and User Manual," SEA G R A N T P R O J E C T R/OE-26, September. Nordgren, RP (1974). "On Computation of the Motion of Elastic Rods," ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, pp777-780. Orcina, (2000). "Visual Orcaflex User Manual, Version 7.4c," Orcina Limited, Daltongate, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 7AJ, U.K. Panllng, JR and Webster, WC (1986). "A Consistent Large-amplitude Analysis of the Coupled Response of a TLP and Tendon System," Proc. 5th OMAE Conf., Tokyo, Vol.3, pp126-133. Wichers, JEW, an d Huijismans, RIIM (1990). "The Contribution of Hydrodynamic Damping Induced by Mooring Chains on Low-Frequency Vessel Motions, " Offshore Tech Con.f,Houston, OTC6218, pp171-182.

642