‘What If’ scenario testing of deepwater ropes - new mooring practices

Progressive increases in the time, complexity and cost of deploying deepwater mooring systems has led to a rethink of traditional mooring system deployment practices. Results of deepwater synthetic rope testing are being used to develop new approaches to pre-loading and pre-tensioning synthetic rope mooring lines. These have shown that 40% MBS (Minimum Breaking Strength) pre-tensioning is unnecessary. Instead ropes can be pre-tensioned to 30% and subsequent storms, providing the final line tensioning to 40%. This approach to mooring system deployment enables significant reduction in the size of installation vessels, and time needed to deploy moorings. It is also better suited to the practicalities of deploying stronger synthetic mooring lines needed for ultra-deepwater moorings, which will be beyond the scope of existing installation vessels.