Experimental Study on the Effects of Mooring System on Air Gap Response of Semi-Submersible Platform

The air gap response is crucial for the safe design and operation of large-volume floating platforms such as semi-submersible and tension leg platforms. It is a complex task to perform numerical simulation on the air gap response considering the wave free surface elevation and the motions of the floating vessel. Therefore, the prediction of air gap response still relies heavily on model tests. This paper attempts to investigate the effects of the mooring system, especially the effects of the length of mooring lines, on the air gap response of semi-submersible platform based on model tests results. The scaled model of the semi-submersible platform is supported by a symmetric mooring system composed of 8 mooring lines. A set of model tests with different length of mooring lines was performed in the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering basin at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the air gap responses of 15 locations were measured using wave probes. The results indicate that the mooring system plays an important role in the air gap response of semi-submersible platform.