There are ambitious goals for development of floating wind farms, but one of the limiting factors is the mooring systems. Current options for mooring design are limited by large loads and limited production capacity.
NYMOOR aims at enabling the use of nylon ropes for mooring of floating wind turbines. This will allow for reduced mooring dimensions, higher production of mooring lines, and open for novel mooring solutions. However, there is little experience with the use of nylon for permanent moorings. Of particular concern is the long-term endurance and behaviour, while new models are also required for design analysis with this flexible material.
NYMOOR will combine experimental and numerical methods to characterize the properties of nylon ropes for permanent moorings. With special focus on identifying long-term degradation and failure mechanisms, the time, load, humidity, and temperature dependent mechanical properties of nylon ropes will be found using new tensile testing equipment and procedures, and mathematical models developed in the project. This is based on the hypothesis that mechanical properties of ropes can be established based on limited sub-rope testing, extensive yarn testing and mathematical/numerical methods.
These results will be used to establish numerical models for load history dependent stiffness and elongation of nylon ropes, which will be applied in design analysis tools. Results will be applied to study the effect of using nylon ropes in novel mooring solutions and the design opportunities this brings. Finally, methods for determining the long-term reliability and behaviour of nylon ropes, including variations in mechanical properties and statistical models of mooring line loads, will be developed, and applied in case studies.
