Effects of mooring line drag damping on response statistics of vessels excited by first- and second-order wave forces

The drag-induced damping in a mooring cable due to combined first- and second-order wave excited motion of a moored vessel has been determined by statistical linearisation. A dynamic stiffness approach developed elsewhere is used to deal with the dynamics of the mooring cables. The power spectral densities of low- and wave-frequency responses are obtained which clearly show the influence of mooring line damping. The non-Gaussian probability density functions (pdf) and expected crossing rates of vessel responses and dynamic cable tensions are determined using the Kac–Seigert technique, and the influence of drag damping is highlighted.