Mooring systems.

What is a mooring system?

Mooring system is a station keeping system used in ships and floating offshore
structures to maintain its position in the ocean. We can see this in floating offshore
production and drilling platforms where the platforms must keep its position above the
wellhead.
A mooring system is composed by the mooring lines, anchors and connectors. The
floating structure is connected to an anchor at the seafloor through mooring lines.

Mooring lines.

Chain, synthetic fiber rope and wire are the

three materials which the mooring lines can be
made of, but it also can be made of a
combination of the three materials. The choice
of the mooring lines materials depends on the
environmental factors of the place where the
mooring system will be used.

Anchors.

The whole mooring system depends on the strength of the anchors which depends on
the digging depth and the characteristics of the soil. There are four main types of
anchors used in offshore applications: The drag embedment anchor, the suction
anchor, the gravity installed and the vertical load anchors.
I.

Types of anchors
a)
The drag embedment anchor, most commonly used in
mooring systems for shallow water. This anchor is dragged along
the seafloor and as it is being dragged, it penetrates the seafloor
and uses the resistance of the soil in front of the anchor to hold it
at the place. This anchor is very resistant to horizontal forces but
not to vertical forces.

b)
The suction anchor , is a hollow steel pipe closed at the
top which is forced into the seabed through a pump connected in

the top of the pipe, when the water is

pumped out of the suction anchor, this
creates a difference of pressure between
the inside and the outside of the pipe
forcing the anchor into the seabed. This
anchor can resist both vertical and
horizontal forces.
c)
The gravity installed anchor, is
an anchor that installs itself into the
seabed due to its drop weight and this anchor doesn`t require
external energy or mechanical handling and it is more
recommended for ultra-deep water moorings.

d)
The vertical load anchor, is similar to a
drag embedment anchor, but its penetration is
much higher compared to the drag embedment
anchor and when it changes from the installation
mode to the normal mode it can stand both
horizontal and vertical forces.

There are five types of mooring systems which are used to offshore operations,
these are: catenary mooring system, taut leg mooring system, semi-taut
mooring system, spread mooring and single point mooring system.

Types of mooring systems.

I.
Catenary mooring system, is the most used mooring system in
shallow water operations. This system provides restoring forces by

means of the suspended weight of the mooring lines which lie

horizontally at the seabed, so during environmental loads the moored
structure tries to lift the mooring lines which makes a restoring force and
due to this the structure stay in the same position. The mooring line lies
horizontally at the seafloor so it has to be longer than the water depth.
The longer the mooring line the heavier it is and as the water depth
increases, the excessive weight of the mooring line reduce the working
payload of the offshore structure and to overcome this situation
synthetic ropes are used. As the water depth increases the catenary
system becomes more and more expensive.
II.

Taut leg mooring system, in this system the mooring lines are pretensioned until they are tight, the mooring line makes an angle at the
seabed, usually this angle is between 30 and 45 degrees, so due to this

angle the anchor points are loaded by horizontal and vertical forces.
During environmental loads the platform moves horizontally and the
lines make a restoring force making it go back to the right position. This
restoring force is determined by the stiffness and elasticity of the
mooring lines. The elasticity of the mooring lines must be sufficient to
not overload due to the motions of the vessel and mooring lines of
polyester rope have this characteristic so it is commonly used in taut leg
mooring system. This system is cheaper than the catenary system when
working in deep water.
III.

Semi-taut mooring system, this system is a combination of the taut

mooring system and the catenary mooring system. This system is more
suited to deep water than the catenary system because this system has
shorter mooring lines and doesn`t need much seabed space, so it is less
material used in this system.

IV.

Spread mooring system, consist of groups of mooring lines, attached

to the bow and stern of the vessel, usually in a symmetrical pattern. This
symmetrical pattern maintain the vessel positioned on the
predetermined location at the sea, but it does not allow the vessel to
rotate, so it isn`t recommended to places where there is constant
changing of the direction of the environmental loads. This system is able
to be used in any water depth and any vessel.

V.

Single point mooring system, in this system the mooring lines are
connected to a single point. The single point consists of a buoy moored
to the seafloor through many mooring lines, this buoy has a bearing
system which allow its rotation, so when using this system of mooring
the vessel is able to rotate around the buoy. This system is most
commonly used in ships.

Mooring system in floating mobile offshore drilling units.

In floating drilling units, it is very important to have a proper mooring system to maintain
its station keeping when performing the drilling operations. The most commonly used
mooring system in floating mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) is the spread mooring
system

http://www.rigzone.com/training/insight.asp?insight_id=358
http://www.dredgingengineering.com/moorings/lines/Offshore%20mooring%20lines
%20mooring%20system.htm
http://www.netwasgroup.us/offshore/spread-mooring-systems.html

http://petrowiki.org/MODU_riser_and_mooring_systems
http://www.offshorecenter.dk/log/bibliotek/E6-37-06-04%5B1%5D.pdf
http://www.globalmaritime.com/uploads/documents/anchor_manual.pdf
http://www.bluewater.com/products-technology/mooring-systems/spread-mooring/

To choose which one you must use in your drilling rig, it must be considered the
operating water depths of each system. The mooring system has a limited operating
depth of 5500 ft while the dynamic positioning system (DP) is only limited by the riser
storage. So in shallow water up to 5,500, the mooring systems has an economical
advantage in comparison to the DP, especially if it is a long-term drilling such as the
development drilling. On the other hand, for drilling in ultra-deep water the dynamic
positioning has better economics, actually it is almost impossible to perform drilling in
ultra-deep water without the DP system.

Installation and Cost

When having a DP system, you must have a separate engine room, to power the
thrusters, and this is the main cost for a DP system. The costs also depends on the
level of the system which are: DP class 1, DP class 2 or DP class 3 which is the
highest. The higher the level, the more complex it is and the more equipment and room
it requires.
When having a Mooring system, the costs come from the winches, anchors, chains,
monitoring devices and also the devices to locate and retrieve the anchors. Comparing
to DP system, the mechanical devices are less complex and less expensive than the
electronic devices, and neither additional engine room nor thrusters are required.

Mooring: A mooring system is not inexpensive either. Costs include winches, piles or
anchors, chains, monitoring devices, as well as devices to locate and collect the
anchors. Mechanical devices usually are less expensive than electronic devices, and
there is no need for the additional engine room and fuel capacities. The installation of
the mooring system is also an easier task and can save a bit of money in installation
time.
Maintenance
Mooring lines needs to be inspected each time it is collected or released to the seabed, and this adds more
cost to the operation. On the other hand, mooring equipment is easier to repair comparing to DP
equipment and its complexity.