Implementation of wave basin spring-rope mooring system for floating offshore wind turbines

Implementation of wave basin spring-rope mooring system for floating offshore wind turbines | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Implementation of wave basin spring-rope mooring system for floating offshore wind turbines Anita Leite, Katherine Smith, Ajit C. Pillai, Callum Guy, Thomas Davey, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6893045/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Scaled hydrodynamic testing in wave basins is an important tool for developing designs for floating offshore wind turbine platforms. When designing such scale tests, accurate representation of the mooring system behaviour is crucial. However , designers must overcome challenges including: the availability of materials that replicate mooring static and dynamic stiffness and truncation of the mooring footprint to match the wave basin’s dimensions and its scaled depth. This study proposes a method to represent a scaled catenary mooring using a tensioned spring-rope configuration in a wave basin. This mooring system is designed by analytically calculating the mooring line elasticity acquired from the linear mooring stiffness matrix. This catenary-equivalent mooring system is then experimentally tested in the wave basin at the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility using a 1:50 scale VolturnUS-S semi-submersible platform fitted with the 15 MW IEA reference wind turbine. This method shows that the mooring system captures surge variability and pitch dynamics well, with pitch errors under regular waves ranging from 0.14% to 14.69%. However, mooring tensions exhibited large deviations in mean values, despite standard deviation ratios generally remaining close to 1. These results underscore the limitations of spring-rope systems in replicating catenary restoring forces and highlight the importance of accurately modelling mooring properties when simulating semi-taut configurations. Mooring system Tank testing Floating Wind Turbines Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 05 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 09 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Jul, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Jul, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 17 Jun, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 17 Jun, 2025 First submitted to journal 14 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6893045","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":487945425,"identity":"feb87683-19e0-4ac0-8ccb-b944e39c5198","order_by":0,"name":"Anita Leite","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+klEQVRIie2SMW7CMBSGf8uSWaxmdYWAKxghMUWc5UWRMuUA3eoqUhi5QC/RGxhFgoUDULGEAVgY2s0bddqpA6ZsHfwtT5b86f3v2UAk8i/hBuSL6JnvI/spNqT4O+SdB2nvUbo2Q0V/VBLDXtq9SyEeT4c3h3Rgek3L5ea6oiyrNFEB0S+nO4liYmShudwGcllWK6Lmue6XYgc0mUEJLj+uGyPL5o7o4oOtj+8Ol8wk57CifRe/MQuhMN1K2Myorksg2LhhlaIih5DdLDqf1Oqol6+B8Yfravnp0hlG8y7Y02ywSPJ9e14Fxue/c/pvgBsPGYlEIpHbfAHobU3RzNH5NwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh, Exeter and Strathclyde","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anita","middleName":"","lastName":"Leite","suffix":""},{"id":487945428,"identity":"b67d508c-fc9f-4268-8f17-f9ecee34ab9c","order_by":1,"name":"Katherine Smith","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh, Exeter and Strathclyde","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Katherine","middleName":"","lastName":"Smith","suffix":""},{"id":487945429,"identity":"ad748535-e020-4aa8-85cf-15b7fd2409ec","order_by":2,"name":"Ajit C. 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