A comparison of non-metallic ropes with wire rope and chain mooring lines for deep water applications
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Copyright 1978, Offshore Technology Conference. The use of nonmetallic ropes for offshore applications is examined. Beginning with the discussion of practical design considerations, the characteristics of nonmetallic ropes are compared with conventional wire rope and chain mooring legs. A general dimensionless formulation of the static mooring-leg problem valid for arbitrary ocean-floor slope and single- or multiple-component mooring lines is presented. In addition, a new constitutive equation is developed for extensible mooring lines. Numerical results are presented in the form of design curves. These design curves characterize the behavior of both single- and multiple-component mooring lines in terms of pertinent dimensionless groups. As a result, the designer is presented with the means of easily comparing the restoring force, pretention, and weight requirements for mooring systems at any depth. Further, with the introduction of the design curves, the designer now has the option of bypassing extensive computer runs in the preliminary design work. Numerical examples are included that demonstrate the use of the design curves.
