Small-Scale Testing of Damaged Synthetic Fiber Mooring Ropes

摘要

Synthetic fiber mooring rope is an important emergingrntechnology helping enable the economical exploration andrnproduction of petroleum from offshore deepwater reservoirs.rnPolyester moorings have been used successfully for years inrnBrazil and were recently approved by the MMS for use by twornMODU drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. One of thernunknown issues associated with the use of synthetic fiberrnmooring ropes is how to account for damage and thernassociated lifetime and reliability predictions. The MMS hasrnsponsored research to address the damage tolerance issuernincluding the activity reported in the current paper. This paperrndescribes the results of controlled, damage-tolerance, staticrntension tests on elements and subrope components takenrndirectly from representative polyester mooring rope products.rnThe results should serve as a foundation for further researchrninto the behavior of ropes with damage including morernsophisticated analytical modeling.