American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2022, Vol. 10, No.
1, 1-7
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajcea/10/1/1
Published by Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/ajcea-10-1-1
Investigation of Buoy Size and Location on
Hydrodynamic Response and Mooring Tension
of the DeepCwind Floating Wind Turbine
Arman Aghaei Ganjgani, Hamid Reza Ghafari, Hassan Ghassemi*, Mahmoud Ghiasi
Department of Maritime Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
*Corresponding author:
Received December 09, 2021; Revised January 14, 2022; Accepted January 23, 2022
Abstract This paper investigates the effect of different sizes and locations of the buoy on the dynamic response of
the floating platform. The full-scale of the OC4-DeepCwind semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine
(FOWT) platform was analyzed using the boundary element method (BEM) in ANSYS-AQWA software,
considering regular wave conditions. Platform motions and mooring line tension in the surge, heave, and pitch are
presented and discussed in time and frequency domains. Validation was carried out by comparison of the platform
motion RAO (response amplitude operator) and fairlead tension RAO magnitudes in the surge, heave, and pitch
between numerical and experimental data under seven sea states' regular waves. Four different buoy diameters and
its locations (B1, B2, B3, and B4) have been considered. The results show that increasing the buoy size leads to an
increase in surge motion, while the amplitude of semi-submersible decreases in heave motion. Also, in the pitch
motion, it is reduced for B1 and B2, while an increase was found for B3 and B4. In addition, increasing the distance
of buoy from the platform leads to an increase in the surge motion response while it is reduced for that of the heave
response.
Keywords: DeepCwind platform, BEM, buoys, catenary mooring line
Cite This Article: Arman Aghaei Ganjgani, Hamid Reza Ghafari, Hassan Ghassemi, and Mahmoud Ghiasi,
“Investigation of Buoy Size and Location on Hydrodynamic Response and Mooring Tension of the DeepCwind
Floating Wind Turbine.” American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, vol. 10, no. 1 (2022): 1-7.
doi: 10.12691/ajcea-10-1-1.
the catenary mooring system of a semisubmersible wind
turbine platform with two different depths (75 m and
1. Introduction 330 m). mooring line length, angle, and horizontal
distance between the anchor and fairlead were
To minimize floating offshore structure motions, investigated [2]. Fitzgerald and Bergdahl used a buoy-
mooring line systems have been used that provide the attached mooring line for a wave energy converter at a
necessary restoring force against environmental loadings. water depth of 50 m, indicating that the buoy may reduce
As the water depth increased, the weight of the mooring cable weight, induce mooring loads, and affect floater
line consisting of chains or cables became too heavy, and motion. For offshore applications, hybrid mooring
the vertical forces from the mooring line on the floating concepts such as clump weight and buoy have been
platform increased. In the catenary mooring system, part developed [3]. Effect of buoys on the dynamics response
of the mooring line is rested on the seabed ground. When of mooring lines and platform motion have been
the catenary mooring system gets lifted by the excursion investigated by Qiao et al. numerically [4]. Mavrakos and
or vessel motion the restoring force is generated. The Chatjigeorgiou used the frequency and time domains to
buoys are used in the suspended portion of the mooring examine the mooring line motion and tension, including
system to effectively reduce the hydrodynamic response different buoy sizes and locations in deep water [5].
of platform and mooring lines tension [1]. Mavrakos et al. [6] studied the benefit of attaching buoys
In recent years, the effect of buoys on the mooring to the mooring line and confirmed that the reduction of the
line system and floating platform response has been mooring line dynamic could be achieved when the size,
investigated by many researchers. Yuan et al. proposed a number, and location of the buoys are chosen correctly.
hybrid mooring system with several clump weights and Benassai et al. compared the motion control performance
buoys to optimize the position and volume of the buoys of the catenary mooring and the tension line mooring
based on the mooring line tension. In their work, Morrison's systems for the Dutch tri-floater wind turbine at the water
equation was used to calculate the hydrodynamic loads [1]. depth between 50m and 200m to minimize the mooring
Brommundt et al. developed a numerical tool to optimize line weight. Both operational and extreme load cases are
2 American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture
considered, the weight of chain cable and steel wire rope external hydrodynamic, structural, and inertia loadings.
are compared for different water depths [7]. Mooring Considering the hydrodynamics interaction among M
configurations of a floating point absorber consisting of floating body and using frequency-dependent coefficients,
catenary chain with and without additional clump weight the linear equation of motion is expressed as follow:
or buoy were compared by Vicente et al [8]. The results
−ωe2 ( M s + M a ) − iωe C + K hys x jm =
(1)
showed that the maximum horizontal motion and the F jm
energy absorption power are less sensitive to different
arrangements of the buoys and clump weights than In Eq. (1), 𝑀𝑀𝑠𝑠 is a 6M×6M structure mass matrix,
average and maximum mooring line tension. Ghafari and M a = A jm,kn and C = [ B jm,kn ], are the 6M×6M
Dardel investigated the effect of diameter and number of
buoys on the response of the Amirkabir semisubmersible hydrodynamic added mass and damping matrices
drilling platform using the BEM. The results showed that which consist of hydrodynamics interaction coupling
increasing the number of buoys decreases the amplitude of components between M structures, K hys is combined
the surge motion while increasing the heave and pitch hydrostatic stiffness matrix. F jm is the total forces and
motions [9]. In particular, the semi-submersible, the spar,
and the tension leg platform are different types of moments, subscripts j and k correspond to the motion
substructures that are widely used for the wind turbine or modes, and the subscripts m, n refer to the m-th and n-th
hybrid wind-wave concepts [10,11]. structure. By defining an integral convolution form, the
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the hydrodynamic equation of motion can be described as [13].
response of the DeepCwind semi-submersible floating offshore {m + A∞ } X ( t ) + cX ( t ) + KX ( t )
wind turbine (FOWT) platform consisting of three mooring
t (2)
lines that are divided into two segments with an intermediate
buoy. Simulations were carried out using ANSYS AQWA + ∫R ( t − τ ) X (τ ) dτ =
F (t )
software under the regular airy wave conditions. Fairlead 0
tension and platform motions in three directions (surge, where R is the velocity impulse function matrix and F(t) is
heave, and pitch) are presented and discussed. the total force, which includes the mooring force, and
first- and second-order wave force. For the hydrodynamics
analyses, second-order wave force must be considered as
2. Governing Equations one of the important loads in potential-based BEM to
calculate the hydrodynamic drift force on the floating
Governing equations, including potential flow theory, body [14,15]. The significance of second-order wave force
have been used, and three-dimensional radiation/diffraction on the floating wind platform has been demonstrated
theory has been utilized to estimate the wave force computationally as well as experimentally [16]. Refer
acting on the rigid floating platform. The potential flow to [17] for additional information on mooring force
expression includes the first-order incident wave potential, equations.
the corresponding diffracted wave potential, and the DeepCwind characteristics
radiation wave potential due to the j-th motion with unit The present result is compared to experimental data
motion amplitude [12]. The hydrodynamic loads, the from the DeepCwind semi-submersible floating platform,
motion responses, and mooring forces responses are which was used in studies by Coulling et al. [18]. The
obtained using the three-dimensional radiation/diffraction DeepCwind semi-submersible floating platform model has
theory and the Morison element theory. been tested at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands'
The fluid flow field that surrounds the floating object is offshore wind/wave basin by the University of Maine
defined using Laplace equation as the governing equation. DeepCwind program [18]. It should be mentioned that the
A boundary integration method is used to calculate the experimental model for the DeepCwind semi-submersible
fluid velocity potential function with boundary conditions floating platform was evaluated in 1:50 scale model
[9]. The Morison element models the mooring line as a experiments. Table 1 shows the characteristic of the
chain under the effect of various external factors include DeepCwind semi-submersible floating platform.
Figure 1. OC4 DeepCwind semi-submersible design Coulling et al. [18]
American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 3
Table 1. Characteristics of the DeepCwind semi-submersible compared to the experimental data by Coulling et al [18].
platform Based on the convergence analysis results, a maximum
Properties value unit element size of 1.8m was obtained, including 7800 panel
Depth to platform base below SWL (total draft) 20 𝑚𝑚 and 5400 diffracting panel that show in Figure 3.
Water depth 200 𝑚𝑚
Water mass density 1025 𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚3
Elevation of the main column above SWL 10 𝑚𝑚
Elevation of the offset column above SWL 12 𝑚𝑚
Space between offset columns 50 𝑚𝑚
Diameter of main column 6.5 𝑚𝑚
Diameter of offset columns 12 𝑚𝑚
Dimeter of base columns 24 𝑚𝑚
Dimeter of pontoon and cross bracings 1.6 𝑚𝑚
Displacement 13 986.8 𝑚𝑚3
Center of mass (CM) location below SWL 14.4 𝑚𝑚
Platform roll inertia about CM 8.011×109 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝑚𝑚2
Platform pitch inertia about CM 8.011×109 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝑚𝑚2
Platform Yaw inertia about platform centerline 1.391×109 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝑚𝑚2
Figure 2 shows the platform orientation and mooring
line configuration. Mooring line properties are listed in Figure 3. Mesh of the DeepCwind semi-submersible
Table 2. Seven different regular waves were considered, and the
platform response was investigated to validate the
numerical results of the RAO response motions and
mooring line tension. Table 3 shows the selected sea states
for regular waves defined by period (T) and wave
amplitude (A).
Table 3. Sea states characteristics [18]
Sea state A [m] T[s]
LC1 0.96 7.50
LC2 3.79 12.10
LC3 3.57 14.30
LC4 3.79 20.00
LC5 5.15 12.10
LC6 5.37 14.30
LC7 5.56 20.00
Table 4 compares the platform motion RAO in the
Figure 2. mooring line arrangement surge, heave, and pitch between numerical and
experimental data under seven sea states' regular waves.
Table 2. Mooring line properties The root mean squared error (RMSE) for the DeepCwind
Properties Value Unit semi-submersible floating platform shows relatively good
Number of mooring lines 3 - agreement between numerical results and measurement
Angle between lines 120 degree data for all three motions.
Radius to anchors from platform center line 837.6 𝑚𝑚
Table 4. Comparison of DeepCwind RAO between present study and
Radius to fairleads from platform center line 40.868 𝑚𝑚 experimental data [18]
Unstretched line length 835.5 𝑚𝑚
Surge(m/m) Heave (m/m) Pitch(deg/m)
Mooring line diameter 0.0766 𝑚𝑚
Sea state Exp Num Exp Num Exp Num
Equivalent mooring line mass density 113.35 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚
Regular wave 1 0.17 0.153 0.07 0.063 0.25 0.207
Equivalent mooring line mass in water 108.63 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚
Extensional stiffness 753.6 × 106 𝑁𝑁 Regular wave 2 0.58 0.62 0.3 0.28 0.259 0.15
Regular wave 3 0.75 0.747 0.29 0.178 0.23 0.18
Regular wave 4 0.99 0.911 1.29 0.896 0.31 0.28
3. Results and Discussion Regular wave 5 0.66 0.622 0.34 0.282 0.3 0.27
Regular wave 6 0.77 0.748 0.37 0.182 0.27 0.21
Regular wave 7 1.01 0.913 1.2 0.894 0.42 0.31
3.1. Validation RMSE 0.268 RMSE 0.295 RMSE 0.237
The validation is divided into two main steps: (1) the
platform response amplitude operator (RAO) (2) and Figure 4 shows a comparison of fairlead tension RAO
fairlead tension RAO under seven regular wave magnitudes between the present numerical results and
environmental. The present numerical result is obtained experimental data for different case studies. It can be seen
from potential theory using the BEM method and that the numerical results are in reasonably good
4 American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture
agreement with the experimental data. At amplitude wave and 3, hence in the present study, only the results of
height and period, mooring line 1 experiences more mooring lines 1 are given. It can be observed that the
tension. It should be noted that similar results were DeepCwind test data and the numerical simulation results
obtained due to the symmetry between mooring lines 1 are in relatively good agreement.
Figure 4. Comparison of fairlead tension RAO magnitudes for a) mooring line 1, b) mooring lines 2
Table 5. Buoy size and location
Buoy Type Diameter (m) Weight in water (Kg) Distance from the fairlead (m)
B1 2.5 8381 S=60=90=120=150=180
B2 4.0 34330 S=60=90=120=150=180
B3 5.5 89246 S=60=90=120=150=180
B4 7.0 183990 S=60=90=120=150=180
Figure 5. Effect of buoy location on the mooring line configurations
Figure 6. Effect of buoy size and location on the platform response a) surge, b) heave and c) pitch
American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 5
3.2. The Buoy Size and Location As shown in Figure 6, increasing the buoy size leads to
increasing the average, maximum, and minimum surge
The effect of the buoy diameter for different distances motion, while in heave motion, the semi-submersible
from fairlead on platform response and mooring lines amplitude decreases less as the buoy size increases. Also,
tension have been investigated in this section. The in pitch motion, it was first observed that the increased
numerical simulation was carried out for the regular wave size of the buoy for B1 and B2 from the platform could
with amplitude 5 meters and period of 12 seconds. Table 5 reduce the amplitude of the platform. Then, with the
summarizes the bouy size and distances from fairlead increased size of buoy for B3 and B4, the amplitude of the
where S is the distance between the fairlead and the buoy. average, maximum, and minimum surge motion increased.
Effect of buoy location on mooring line configurations in In addition to, with increasing the distance of buoy from
one of the mooring line is shown in Figure 5. the platform, the average, maximum, and minimum of
The effects of buoy size and location on the global surge motion are increased, while it is reduced for that of
responses of a semi-submersible platform are obtained in the heave response. In pitch motion, increasing distance
time domain analyses with 2000 seconds duration and for B1 and B2 reduced the amplitude of oscillations, while
then the statistical study of maximum, minimum, and its vice versa for B3, B4.
average of the numerical results for surge, heave and pitch The frequency response of platform in the surge, heave,
motion are shown in Figure 6. and pitch motions considering one buoy size (B2) under
different distance from the platform shows in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Frequency response of platform under different buoy distance and constant diameter; buoy type B2; a) surge, b) heave c) pitch
Table 6. Statistic frequency for Buoy B2
Low Frequency Wave Frequency
Motion S (m) Period[s] Value [m, deg] Period[s] Value[m, deg]
60 2.03 2.46
90 2.18 2.46
Surge 120 100 2.34 12 2.45
150 2.53 2.45
180 2.73 2.45
60 0.15 0.93
90 0.16 0.93
Heave 120 17.2 0.16 12 0.93
150 0.17 0.93
180 0.17 0.92
60 0.083 0.4
90 0.088 0.47
Pitch 120 100 0.093 12 0.48
150 0.098 0.48
180 0.102 0.48
6 American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture
As shown in Figure 7, the surge and heave motion values of platform response for buoy B2 for the surge,
frequency responses have two resonant frequencies: the heave, and pitch motions.
low frequency (LF) and the resonant wave frequency The tension force of the mooring lines is shown in
(WF). Both responses decrease as the buoy distance from Figure 8. It was first observed that the increasing distance
the platform increases. In addition, the resonant LF and of buoy types B1, B2 from the platform could reduce the
WF response amplitude for heave motion decreases. In average tension force, maximum, and minimum mooring
pitch motion, increasing the distance between the buoy lines 1, 2. Then, with the increased distance of the buoy
and the platform increases the amplitude of the platforms' types B3, B4 from the platform, the tension force
resonant WF and LF. Table 6 shows the LF and WF amplitude of the mooring lines increased.
Figure 8. Time response of fairlead tension for a) mooring line 1, b) mooring line 2
Figure 9. Frequency response of fairlead tension for B2; a) mooring line 1, b) mooring line 2
The tension force of the mooring line for buoy • Increasing the buoy size leads to an increase in the
type B2 is shown in Figure 9. It can also be observed that surge motion, while in the heave motion, the
there are two resonant frequencies for mooring tension; amplitude of semi-submersible decreases. Also in
the low resonant frequency occurs in the 105s period and the pitch motion, it is reduced for B1 and B2 while
the wave frequency in the 12.5s period. With increasing an increase was found for B3 and B4.
distance from the platform, the amplitude of the LF • With increasing the distance of buoy from the
oscillation increases, but the amplitude of the WF platform, the surge motion response is increased
oscillation decreases. while it is reduced for that of the heave response. In
pitch motion, increasing distance for B1 and B2
case studies reduced the amplitude of oscillations
4. Conclusion while its vice versa for B3, B4.
• Increasing buoy distance decreased the mooring
The effects of buoy size and location on mooring tension force for B1 and B2, while its increased for
line tension and platform responses were investigated B3 and B4.
for surge, heave, and pitch motion of the DeepCwind • In the surge and heave motions, the amplitudes of
semi-submersible floating platform in regular wave LF and WF decrease as the buoy distance increases
conditions. BEM method was used to simulate while it is increased for that of pitch motion.
hydrodynamics responses of the platform in both • In the case of B2, the amplitude of the mooring
frequency and time domains. tension in the LF increases, but for WF it's vice versa.
American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 7
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