Simulation Mussel Farm flexible Seaflex mooring
Simulation Mussel Farm 70 mm chain mooring
The Task 2.2 of the OpenMode project finished last April (Month 6 of the project). It covered the modelling of the interaction between the floating farm and the swell. The objective of this work was to understand the behaviour of the structure under extreme environmental conditions and the influence of the type of mooring on it. This work has provided answer to questions as:
- What are the maximum loads in the mooring? (It allows to reduce the overestimation of the mooring)
- What is the radius of drift of the structures when they are moored in a single point? (It allows to understand how close can be the installation depending on the environmental conditions)
- How varies with the environmental actions the load in a mussel rope? (the answer allows to estimate the type of load cell that will be used in WP3)
- Is it possible to change the steel chain for a lighter element? (It provides for deeper waters alternatives that do not reduce the harvesting capacity)
- How are the reactions in the floaters under the critical environmental actions? (This provides the maximum bending moment that will be suffered in the structure under service).
This modelling has been performed considering:
- The geometrical and physical features of the raft, including the type of material and weight.
- Estimating the drag forces on the ropes and the mussel harvest.
- Maximum wind, current and waves for a period of return of 50 years and using the typical conditions in Rias Baixas (Galicia).
Three types of mooring have been tested, including the heavy steel chain traditionally used in the region and two different flexible Seaflex mooring systems. The company Seaflex provided support with the modelling of the interaction between the environmental conditions and the structure using the Software ProteusDS.