DESIGN OF MOORING SYSTEM FOR A 15MW SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE, TAIDAFLOAT, IN TAIWAN STRAIT
Journal
Proceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE
Journal Volume
5
ISBN
9780791886878
Date Issued
2023-01-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) is one of the trending topics in the offshore industry. Taiwanese government agency, Bureau of Energy, recently announced a 100 MW floating offshore wind turbine demonstration project, which is planned to be installed in Taiwan Strait to have a jump start in the readiness of floating wind technologies. Compared with bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines, semi-submersible FOWT has many advantages, among different floater types, in economic efficiency as offshore wind farms go to deeper water. This paper summarizes the design of a mooring system and the anchor type selection for a concept floating system, TaidaFloat. TaidaFloat is a floating platform designed to support a 15 MW wind turbine in a water depth of around 70 meters. The mooring design follows the rules and guidelines of American Bureau of Shipping. 3x2 and 3x3 mooring patterns are investigated for feasibility of withstanding the winds, waves, and currents in Taiwan Strait. According to the rules, the mooring system must sustain an environmental load of a 50-year return period. The priority of the design is to minimize the cost and the footprint of the mooring system. OrcaFlex and ANSYS Discovery are used for the analyses. The results show that a 3x3 mooring pattern with an anchor distance(radius) of 10 times water depth is required to meet the design targets under extreme environmental conditions. Anchors of around 23tons are needed to withstand the mooring loads. Overall, in the current design, the mooring chain size and anchor weight turned out to be relatively large as compared to other designs. Reducing the cost of the mooring and anchor systems remains to be a challenge in future work.
Subjects
anchor | floating wind | FOWT | Mooring | semi-submersible | stationkeeping | TaidaFloat
SDGs
Type
conference paper