Performance of Embedded Mooring Lines During Keying and Diving of Gravity Installed Anchors

Gravity installed anchors (GIAs) are the most recent generation of anchoring solution to moor floating facilities for deepwater oil and gas developments. After the installation of GIAs, the anchors are connected with the floating facility via the mooring lines, which interact with the anchors at the shackle and influence the keying and diving performance of GIAs. In the present work, a three-dimensional large deformation finite element (LDFE) model is established using the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian method to investigate the performance of embedded mooring lines during keying and diving of GIAs. To verify the efficiency of the LDFE model, comparisons with the plasticity models are performed. Then, a parametric study is undertaken to quantify the relationship between the drag force Ta and drag angle θah at the shackle and the drag force T0 and drag angle θ0 at the mudline, in terms of the frictional coefficient, drag angle at the mudline and soil strain rate and strain softening. It is demonstrated that the drag angle at the mudline has the most significant effect on the performance of embedded mooring lines and hence the keying and diving of GIAs.