Fatigue Assessment of Mooring Chain Considering the Effects Of Mean Load and Corrosion

Results from full scale fatigue tests of offshore mooring chains performed in recent years have revealed considerable influence of both mean load and corrosion condition on the fatigue capacity. It has been shown that a reduction of the mean load gives an increase in fatigue life, whereas the corros...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Volume 2: Structures, Safety, and Reliability
Main Authors: Lone, Erling Neerland, Sauder, Thomas Michel, Larsen, Kjell, Leira, Bernt Johan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: ASME 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2827131
https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2021-62775
Description
Summary:Results from full scale fatigue tests of offshore mooring chains performed in recent years have revealed considerable influence of both mean load and corrosion condition on the fatigue capacity. It has been shown that a reduction of the mean load gives an increase in fatigue life, whereas the corrosion experienced by used chains have a significant negative impact. Neither of these effects are properly addressed by current S-N design curves or design practice. This paper suggests an extended S-N curve formulation, that includes the effects of mean load and corrosion condition. The parameters of the extended formulation are estimated empirically from mooring chain test data that includes new and used chains, with various mean loads and with different degrees of corrosion. The fitted capacity model is then used for fatigue calculation for the mooring system of a semi-submersible, showing the importance of using realistic mean loads and mooring chain corrosion in fatigue assessments. publishedVersion