Experimental study of a compliant mooring system for a floating OWC device

Abstract

A compliant mooring system designed for a floating OWC type wave energy device in shallow water depth is studied experimentally. The compliant buoy mooring system consists of four mooring systems, each of which has a buoy connected to horizontal and vertical mooring lines. A series of model tests have been carried out at KRISO ocean engineering basin for various mooring parameters; length of horizontal nylon rope, pretension of vertical wire rope, mooring layouts and various environmental conditions; regular and irregular waves combined with current and wind. The mooring line's tensions and 6-DOF motions of the floating structure were measured using load cells and 3 CCD camera system. Discussion has been made on non-linear motion responses of OWC and on non-linear mooring line tension response for various mooring conditions. Copyright ？ 2004 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.