Nonlinear dynamics of a coupled surge-heave small-body ocean mooring system

Abstract

An investigation of coupled surge-heave motion of a symmetric small-body ocean mooring system is carried out in this paper. The dynamical system, formulated using a Lagrangian approach in the vertical plane of motion, is characterized by a strong geometric mooring nonlinearity and includes a quadratic relative motion Morison form for the hydrodynamic damping. Numerical simulations reveal complex periodic and aperiodic solutions which include torus multiplying and chaotic motion. The onset of instabilities is discussed and a comparison with a limiting decoupled surge model is performed.