Direct time domain analysis of floating structures with linear and nonlinear mooring stiffness in a 3D numerical wave tank

In this paper, motion response of a moored floating structure interacting with a large amplitude and steep incident wave field is studied using a coupled time domain solution scheme. Solution of the hydrodynamic boundary value problem is achieved using a three-dimensional numerical wave tank (3D NWT) approach based upon a form of Mixed-Eulerian–Lagrangian (MEL) scheme. In the developed method, nonlinearity arising due to incident wave as well as nonlinear hydrostatics is completely captured while the hydrodynamic interactions of radiation and diffraction are determined at every time step based on certain simplifying approximations. Mooring lines are modelled as linear as well as nonlinear springs. The horizontal tension for each individual mooring line is obtained from the nonlinear load-excursion plot of the lines computed using catenary theory, from which the linear and nonlinear line stiffness are determined. Motions of three realistic floating structures with different mooring systems are analyzed considering various combinations of linear and approximate nonlinear hydrodynamic load computations and linear/nonlinear mooring line stiffness. Results are discussed to bring out the influence and need for consideration of nonlinearities in the hydrodynamics and hydrostatics as well as the nonlinear modelling of the line stiffness.