Performance assessment of a tether component installed on elastic mooring lines for floating wave energy converters

Paper in proceedings, 2020

Mooring system is important for floating wave energy converters (WECs), as the moorings directly influence the device’s operation and economy. Among the various mooring systems, the use of tether components, which are advantageous over traditional mooring fibre ropes and exhibit viscoelastic stiffness and load-path dependence, has been proposed. This study investigates different mooring systems and compares them with regard to the dynamics of floating WEC systems. The study incorporates a numerical model of a tether component into three elastic mooring configurations to investigate under which conditions the inclusion of tethers is beneficial for WEC systems. The inclusion of tethers can increase the heave motion of the WEC by approximately 10% and decrease the force responses (maximum tension and force range) in the mooring lines by 45% for all three mooring configurations. Thus, more energy can be produced by the WEC while increasing the fatigue life of the mooring lines.