Lifecycle Performance of an Innovative Flying Wing Anchor® for Offshore Wind Turbines: Experimental Investigation of Installation, In-Service Capacity, and Retrieval

Lifecycle Performance of an Innovative Flying Wing Anchor® for Offshore Wind Turbines: Experimental Investigation of Installation, In-Service Capacity, and Retrieval | 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 Article Lifecycle Performance of an Innovative Flying Wing Anchor® for Offshore Wind Turbines: Experimental Investigation of Installation, In-Service Capacity, and Retrieval Ying Lai, Shusen Xiong, Han Wu, Yinghui Tian, Tianyu Zhang, Yunmin Chen, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9220866/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The development of deepwater energy systems necessitates efficient mooring foundations. This study experimentally investigates the installation and retrieval performance of a dynamically installed Flying Wing Anchor ® in water and sand, evaluating the effects of tip geometry, steady flow fin configuration, and booster. Results identify fins as critical for maintaining directional stability during free-fall, with a polygonal design providing the strongest restoring moment, maintaining a tilt angle below 1.2° throughout free-fall. This stability enhancement incurs a hydrodynamic trade-off by increasing drag and reducing terminal kinetic energy, which decreases penetration depth by approximately 11%. A streamlined tip achieves roughly 12% greater embedment than a conical design. Furthermore, fins significantly enhance uplift capacity, with the polygonal configuration increasing peak pull-out resistance by about 41% compared to a finless anchor. The results reveal design trade-offs between installation accuracy and ultimate capacity. Physical sciences/Engineering/Civil engineering Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy Flying Wing Anchor® offshore mooring system marine soil model test anchor behavior Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 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. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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-9220866","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":615607839,"identity":"a9bd46df-19ab-46d3-b76c-0be12b5ae3c8","order_by":0,"name":"Ying Lai","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2ElEQVRIie3RsQqCQBzH8Z8Utli33qSvYLQEvYxOTkKTU8mJcFMPIDT0DG2NxoEt4lzQkG/gWEOQWktLZ1vQfbc//D/8Dw5QqX6wETQGBzCBtB71DkR/kck35JnL3saPZCA4LXdLbxPlNqpAgKyZhBgup25+8COW21pSCNBzKntYQ3jmx8jt3pAL2NSREFK2xNMbcu9EaHtl4RgN0bqRMp66PB0nyOb7VeEZ9CghhHjl6cZDy0rE9nINZiZJJKSuTwEB0LT9TEO6X9ergLC+x7osq1Qq1T/2ADolQ1RSAMNFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Lai","suffix":""},{"id":615607840,"identity":"a9c83fba-361c-4542-a9f9-e6f71f43531b","order_by":1,"name":"Shusen Xiong","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3846-2544","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shusen","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiong","suffix":""},{"id":615607841,"identity":"a5f8d210-2dbe-41d6-bc28-c5d807ac8edd","order_by":2,"name":"Han Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Han","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":615607842,"identity":"b6a564b2-abb2-4fd3-927b-b3a77c765756","order_by":3,"name":"Yinghui Tian","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yinghui","middleName":"","lastName":"Tian","suffix":""},{"id":615607843,"identity":"1cdd6266-3224-4ffd-a7d5-73fecdf66004","order_by":4,"name":"Tianyu Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":615607844,"identity":"fa07d4ac-e586-442e-8d2c-1884547ae62a","order_by":5,"name":"Yunmin Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yunmin","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":615607845,"identity":"ea85d990-685d-4919-b943-953404e8166a","order_by":6,"name":"Viroon Kamchoom","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Viroon","middleName":"","lastName":"Kamchoom","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-25 09:15:24","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9220866/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9220866/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106218615,"identity":"3c036996-202a-43df-927f-df2a206ea487","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-06 09:11:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1905927,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9220866/v1_covered_2671a42e-d587-4ed7-a34f-c1fecbdc79c6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Lifecycle Performance of an Innovative Flying Wing Anchor® for Offshore Wind Turbines: Experimental Investigation of Installation, In-Service Capacity, and Retrieval","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Flying Wing Anchor®, offshore mooring system, marine soil, model test, anchor behavior","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9220866/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9220866/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe development of deepwater energy systems necessitates efficient mooring foundations. 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