Multibody dynamical modeling of the FPSO soft yoke mooring system and prototype validation

Abstract

The Soft Yoke Mooring System (SYMS) is a single point mooring system for shallow water. It is composed of a mooring framework, mooring legs, yoke, and single point, and is located at the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) through 13 hinge joints, such as universal joints and thrust bearings. Mooring restoring force, motions and postures of mooring components, and mechanical behaviors of hinge joints are major criteria for the structural design of the SYMS. Aiming at the difficulties of the multibody dynamics in traditional design of the SYMS, a multi-body dynamic mathematical modeling with seven independent degrees of freedom (DOFs) which is applicable to prototype field engineering was developed in this study. The proposed mathematical modeling of the SYMS multibody dynamic system has several advantages: 1. Internal tribological behaviors in hinge joints are considered within the presented multibody dynamics model to illustrate the good dynamic effects of the SYMS. 2. The multibody dynamic model can be applied in field service. Correctness and feasibility of the proposed multibody dynamic simulation method for describing motions and postures of hinges and single-body were validated by the prototype monitoring data. 3. The horizontal restoring force of the SYMS was calculated according to field measurement data. The motion state of each single body and internal stress distributions at each hinge joint in the SYMS are given. 4. The multibody dynamics calculation program can be directly used for the real-time monitoring of mechanical behaviors of the SYMS under the service state. The simulated results can provide real-time guarantee for safety alarming of the system. The vulnerability of the mooring system in service was evaluated based on long-term monitoring data analysis.